For Parents of Little Ones

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picture of tent

General conference is this month! What can we do to help young children get the most out of these gospel messages before, during, and after conference? Here are some ideas that have worked for others:

“Before conference, we show our little kids pictures of people who will likely be speaking. Leading up to conference, we talk about how special it is! This helps them look forward to it, so when those long hours come it is easier to listen.” —Amy C.

“During conference weekend, we bring one of the family tents into the living room and pitch it facing the television. Our kids are allowed to sleep in the tent one night of conference weekend if they choose. They always look forward to conference!” —Laura P.

“Before our young children could read well, we made picture cards of words they were likely to hear during conference. We gave a reward each time they heard and found three cards. Sometimes we put a poster-sized paper on the wall and let them run up and make a tally mark or draw their own picture every time they heard a word or idea. Sometimes we cut out images from old Church magazines and let them glue a collage on a paper for each session. We put these papers in plastic sleeves to use as quiet books in sacrament meeting later!” —Anita P.

For ideas about how to weave conference talks into family home evenings, visit ChurchofJesusChrist.org/blog and click on the topic “general conference.” A blog post titled “Learning from General Conference as a Family” by Jocelyn C. shares eight fantastic tips.