LDS Moms and Pops- Spring/Summer '09 Edition (All Are Welcome!!)

[holyhelianthus]

A fresh new thread!

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It'd be nice if we could chat about General Conference and how we prepare ourselves and children for it and as always great children activities!

[brightonwoman]

i only have a second, but subbing at least.

[lacysmommy]

Subbing

I gave a talk on Sunday about spiritual and physical preparedness. It went very well and I loved giving it, and more than that I loved researching for my talk. I got to talk about a lot of crunchy aspects of Mormondom that most people don't really participate in as much as they used to. I stopped short of telling people to store reusable items in their year's supply such as cloth diapers, but I was this close to adding it in.

[ZorroZ]

subbing. I have been taking a breather from MDC, but I enjoy reading & lurking.

I'm ZZ, I am a convert of 17 years. Married for 15. 4 kiddos, My son just started passing the sacrament which is so weird because it seems just yesterday he was only 5!

My husband has been a councler in the bishopric for 4 years, I am the ward party girl for 4 years.

G.C. is close! We prepare by baking...lots of baking... sweets. That's all I got. We watch G.C on our computer most of the time. My husband & I switch off watching it at church. Sundays we bring the kids for morning session, then we arm wrestle for who will go in the afternoon.

Then, when all else fails....because each year it does fail in someway, I don't stress about it becasue I know the Ensign will come out soon

[Chloe&Coop'sMom]

Subbing.

Spring break is the week after GC this year, so we are heading to Utah to visit the ILs. We were able to get tickets for the Sunday sessions of GC and I am excited to be in the Conference Center for GC! We normally just watch on our computer or go hang out at my parent's house and watch it there (they have dish and get BYU TV).

[Bekka]

Originally Posted by ZorroZ

I am the ward party girl for 4 years.

Does this mean "activity chair person"? I never heard of that before! I'm laughing all over the place ...

I've just been released as the Primary president, and I'm now the RS pianist (knew it would be a music calling again) and choir director after the baby is a couple months old. We'll see exactly when that works out ...

[mellowyellowmama]

subbing

[LionTigerBear]

Hi, everyone!

So we got a new home teacher, well, him and his son, and they are so AWESOME!!!! We are in love, lol!

He gave us this whole loving lecture about how this is the hard part of our family years (with the little ones) and how our family needs to come first and it's okay if our two-year-old is too loud for chapel, don't feel bad, just sit with him in the nursery room (which has speakers) or something, if that's what we feel comfortable with, and don't feel bad because he's not being quiet. He went off on this lecture (uh, vent?) about how reverent does not mean "quiet" when you are two years old, and how the church isn't even supposed to teach the little kids that anymore (I hadn't heard about that?) Anyway, it was refreshing and validating. Seriously, I felt so relieved I could cry. He was just really nice and supportive. Oh, and he and his wife (who is awesome too!) gifted us about 13 or so Book of Mormon DVDs for the kids. :

I guess Heavenly Father knew who we needed.

[akichan]

Wow, I didn't know they made BOM dvds for kids! That's awesome.

I like the article in March's Ensign about getting the kids ready for GC. Most of those things are new ideas for me, so I'm excited to try some of them out!

[LionTigerBear]

We'll be skipping GC this time. It's too hard with our 2yo.

[holyhelianthus]

You can get it online live. BYU TV dot com or something.

[ancoda]

First off, I am so happy to announce that our family is finally getting sealed together. : We are going to go to the Boise temple, because it is closer for our parents to be able to come. On March 31st my DH and I get our endowments and then on April 1st we will be sealed together with each other and our 3 boys.

So this year we are planning on staying in Idaho for GC and just watch it on my IL's television.
Most years we have to drag ourselves to the church for all the sessions, because our dial-up internet is too slow to load the sessions. Most years to prepare I print off lots of coloring pages, dot-to-dots, mazes. I also look around the internet for conference packets to help keep my kids entertained. There is a nice one here, it is mostly the same for every conference and she just updates little things that might have changed. We have also gotten one off of www.Sugardoodle.com in the past. Sorry i do not have a direct link to that one.

[holyhelianthus]

Sugardoodle package

It's dot net not dot com. Dot com is a cat lovers site I do that all the time!

Thanks Alisha!

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by magstphil

You can get it online live. BYU TV dot com or something.

Great idea!!!

[holyhelianthus]

Anyone know of any good GC activities for adults? I'm not saying like fun stuff but rather study helps if that makes sense.

Those packages for kids are great but my LOs are still too young.

I found some coloring pages and also bingo boards....

http://theideadoor.com/coloring_pages.htm
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/genconf/nbingo3.htm

I'm trying to think of more ideas. I know that I have wanted to create GC traditions in the past like when Daddy goes to Priesthood having a girl's night (doing our nails or something with scriptures and such of course). I also wanted to do a big inventory and additions to food storage between Saturday sessions. I think every 6 months is great for that. I think a pancake breakfast in front of the TV would be cool too and get them more interested.

A big argument between DH and I in our home is about whether or not we should dress church appropriate for GC at home. I say yes he says PJs are fine. Thoughts?

I like the idea of having lots of activities for the kiddos on the living room floor in front of the TV so they *want* to stay in front of the TV. It may not matter much for a 1 year old now but I'm really hoping it will become a GC habit, ykwim?

[Bekka]

I have found there are some things (with DH) that aren't worth the "argument." If you're home, and comfortable in nicer clothes (like churchish) then wear them for GC. He may be totally fine in PJs. DH doesn't need to change his appearance/location to moderate how he's feeling the Spirit. I have felt that I do better if I'm wearing pretty nice clothes. I usually tend to wear "nicer" (like a denim skirt) but not "really nice" church clothes on GC Sunday, but we've done massive house reorganization stuff on GC Saturday, while listening to the sessions online. We try to keep the Sabbath aspect, and keep our hands busy. I know some people who used to knit or cross stitch during GC. That bugged me on Sunday, b/c I always felt like hand crafts were "work." (personal opinion). But it seemed OK on Saturday.

When I don't have a baby in tow, I take notes and bring my scriptures to do a more interactive GC experience for myself. It's a bit of overkill, but you know, we try.

[Bekka]

Not about GC

I'm listening to dd2 complain b/c she has the natural consequences of cleaning out her lunch bag which she left on the floor for 2 days, and ants found it. I told her it would cost $20 (of her allowance) if I cleaned it out, b/c I specifically mentioned that ants were coming in our house more and it was at risk. They are responsible for cleaning out their lunch bags each time they take lunch to school.

I'm just tired of her beefing about a few little ants. She's almost 9.

[akichan]

I think it is respectful to get dressed like you were in church. That and not lie down on the floor or couch to watch. However, I usually only watch one session, not all four. If I were to watch on Saturday, I'd be doing other things as well, but Sunday is not a "break" from going to church, it's a day to worship with undivided attention (at least for one session), just as I would in sacrament meeting.

Well, worship with kids never allows me to give undivided attention anymore, you know what I mean.

Thanks for those links, I'm going to check out those GC packages for my kids!

[brightonwoman]

Originally Posted by magstphil

I think a pancake breakfast in front of the TV would be cool too and get them more interested.

mom always used to make a big breakfast on saturday, and we'd pull the piano bench up in front of the couch (as a table) and eat in the living room. We NEVER ate anywhere except the table, so it was a BIG deal.

A big argument between DH and I in our home is about whether or not we should dress church appropriate for GC at home. I say yes he says PJs are fine. Thoughts?

we always wore regular church clothes on sunday, but we also were always attending at the chapel. On saturday it could be toned down, but it wasn't jammies or jeans... eg: the boys might wear a polo shirt but not a button down with a tie, and the girls might wear a playdress...
For myself, I think that dressing up helps us remember what we're doing...when we lived in utah and watched every session on TV (they don't even broadcast it to the chapels), we didn't dress up on saturday because we were working in the garden between sessions and stuff like that...but on sunday we did dress up.

I like the idea of having lots of activities for the kiddos on the living room floor in front of the TV so they *want* to stay in front of the TV. It may not matter much for a 1 year old now but I'm really hoping it will become a GC habit, ykwim?

i make bingo for my kids, and let them put cheerios or something on them. When you hear a topic mentioned you get to fill in the square, and when you get a bingo, you get to eat everything from the row We make the bingo board with a whole bunch of gospel topics--we draw pictures for littler ones, but i also put a word or two for older ones (eg, prophet, temple, families, atonement, etc). When DS1 was 4 and 5 that would usually keep him focused for a good half hour at least.

As they get older (ie, now that DS can write), I ask him to try to take notes (either written words or draw a picture) of one thing from each talk. So he doesn't have to listen intently to every word, but I ask him to try to at least get one thing every so often...by the time I was 8 we were all sitting through every session w/o toys, but DH isn't convinced that kids can handle it (oh the differences in our upbringings could fill volumes!), so it usually ends up being at least for all the apostles, or for the first few speakers of each session, or something like that... Again, the point not being to sit still the entire time, but to at least pay attention to parts and try to make sense of them, kwim? The bingo helps with that too.

I've seen checklists that are on the same idea as the bingo or 'notes'...listen for certain topics and check them off the list. (I think the true brilliance of the bingo is the eating though...try a different cereal for each session )

For FHE the week before we talk about prophets, and try to help them get excited about how we have a living prophet that we can listen to.
While I don't ask my kids to sit still and 'listen' the entire time, (I try to keep them in the room, but they can play quietly), I do ask them to put down their toys and try to pay attention at least when the prophet is talking. That ends up being 5 min on saturday morning, 10 min whenever he gives his official talk, and then another 5-10 min in one or two other sessions, depending on if he does a Sunday welcome, and how long his closing remarks are on sunday afternoon. I think it's a good way to start practicing listening, but to adjust to it gradually, kwim?

[brightonwoman]

Originally Posted by Bekka

We try to keep the Sabbath aspect, and keep our hands busy. I know some people who used to knit or cross stitch during GC. That bugged me on Sunday, b/c I always felt like hand crafts were "work." (personal opinion). But it seemed OK on Saturday.

My DH has never been a note taker, whereas I was raised tot ake notes since I was tiny... (as I mentioned in my pp). I do feel like I retain more sometimes when I take notes, but on the other hand when I'm focused on taking notes I don't always get the same feelings from conference, because I'm busy taking notes... so sometimes I like to just sit and absorb...it means that afterwards I usually can't remember who said waht, but I do have warm fuzzies.
DH often does cross-stitching during conference (yes, I said DH, )...I have sometimes too. Now that I knit I knit sometimes. I find that it keeps my hands busy so that my mind is able to pay attention, so for me it helps. I understand the 'work' perspective, and I wouldn't being doing mending or soemthing, and I would NOT work on a project that I was doing for pay (my definition of 'work'), but if it's a hobby/pleasure project, (something for me/the family that I'm doing because I like to) then I think it's fine on the Sabbath. Frankly I've taken handwork to sunday school too (or at least I used to before I had a child in arms!) I think it just really depends on how you feel about the 'work'--whether it's work or play for you.