Feelings First-Aid Kit
By Marissa Widdison
September 28, 2018
September is suicide prevention month. Sadly, even children can be at risk for suicide. But there is much that we can do, as loving adults, to help them stay safe. Pages 24–25 of the September Friend magazine include a “Feelings First-Aid Kit” that you could use to talk with children about how to deal with sad emotions in healthy ways. (It might help some adults too!) Let’s try to make sure those around us feel supported and loved.
Editor’s note: For additional suicide-prevention resources, see suicide.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Get-to-Know-You Game
By Eliza Broadbent
September 21, 2018
The Mind Muscle questions on page 10 of the September magazine can double as a game to help your family or Primary class learn more about each other! All you’ll need is a bag of M&Ms or similar colored candy. M&Ms come in five colors, so pick five questions from the list that would be fun to hear someone answer. (My favorites are 3, 4, 7, 8, and 10.) Assign each question to one M&M color. Then get in a circle, and take turns drawing a candy from the bag. Answer the question that matches the color of the M&M you drew. Go around the circle as many times as desired, and enjoy finding out new things about the awesome people that surround you!
Pro tip: Try mixing in different M&M varieties or different colorful candies together for more question options.
Helping Children Care for Animals
By Jess Ward
September 14, 2018
This month the Sunbeam class will have a lesson about caring for animals. Caring for animals can help young children learn about God’s creations, learn to be responsible, and practice being kind. Teaching young children to be gentle with pets and respectful of wildlife can be fun for the whole family.
Here are some ideas to help your child be kind to animals:
- Explain that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ created animals. Review the Creation story from the January 2018 Friend Junior. Look for animals in books, and encourage your child to learn more about them.
- Take a walk and look for animals, birds, and bugs. Talk about how Heavenly Father and Jesus created all of these things as part of our world. Come up with ideas about what your family can do to take care of God’s creations.
- Teach your child how to treat a pet. Practice gently petting a stuffed animal. Model asking a pet owner if it’s OK to pet their animal. Help your children learn to recognize when an animal doesn’t want to be touched.
- Give your child opportunities to help care for an animal—in your home, at a neighbor’s house, or at a pet shelter. Chores like feeding and giving water to animals can help a child learn basic responsibility.
