Primary Fireside Message: “Teacher, Do You Love Me?”

Primary leaders and teachers were reminded of the sacred responsibility they bear and of the importance of love in teaching children during a videotaped fireside broadcast February 23.

The fireside program was titled “Teacher, Do You Love Me?”

In addition to a segment showing President Ezra Taft Benson talking to a group of little children about his experiences in Primary, it featured messages from Elder Jack H Goaslind, a member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and General Primary President Dwan J. Young.

Sister Young also narrated a true story which tells of a skilled Primary teacher who discovered the power of love in helping one rebellious boy. The story gave its title to a new song introduced during the program—“Teacher, Do You Love Me?” The song is reprinted in this month’s Friend. Material related to the Primary program, including the story, was printed in the March Ensign (pp. 41–48).

“The purpose of this fireside is to help each of you understand how important you are to the children, and to help you feel a deep desire to do everything in your power to serve these precious little souls,” Elder Goaslind said in welcoming Primary teachers and leaders.

“It is parents who have been commanded to ‘teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.’ (D&C 68:28.) But we have also been blessed with the Primary organization within the Church to reinforce the teachings of the home. For that I am very grateful.

“I love my own grandchildren very much and want them to have the best gospel teaching they can have. I want their parents to teach them and be examples to them, so we can all be together as a family eternally. And when my grandchildren go to Primary, oh how I hope they find there teachers who love them, who will help them develop a desire to live righteous lives.”

Elder Goaslind reminded priesthood leaders of the great responsibility they bear in calling and sustaining top quality Primary leaders and teachers.

He quoted remarks from an annual Primary conference on 5 April 1950 in which then-Elder Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve said, “You are dealing with the most precious things in the world—the souls of God’s children … [I] promise you in all humility that if you are faithful and devoted, the Lord … will give you power, even beyond your natural abilities, to touch the hearts of his children.”

Elder Goaslind’s remarks were followed by a short segment showing President Benson meeting with a group of children in the Church Administration Building, telling them stories of how Primary had affected his life.

Sister Young spoke of six goals of the Primary:

—Teach youngsters that they are children of God and that Heavenly Father and Jesus love them;

—Help children learn to love Heavenly Father and Jesus;

—Help children prepare to be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and keep their baptismal covenants;

—Help children grow in understanding of the gospel and provide opportunities for them to practice its principles;

—Help boys prepare to receive the priesthood and be worthy to use it to bless the lives of others;

—Help girls prepare to fulfill their roles as righteous women and to live lives of service.

“One of the greatest legacies we can give to the world is a generation of children who know that they are literally children of God and who love him and have covenanted to keep his commandments,” Sister Young said.

President Ezra Taft Benson recalls some of his experiences in Primary for a group of Primary children. (Photography by Mike Nelson.)