Kids Can Love Conference, Too

If you want your children to love conference and have a desire to hear the Brethren, it may help if they know the Brethren better. If they discover for themselves that they are men of God, they will be more excited to hear from them.

These thoughts entered my mind just minutes after I had prayed to know how to instill in my six children love and anticipation for the upcoming general conference. Immediately ideas flowed about how I could help them know the General Authorities. I would assign each child to study two of the Brethren, write a report about each man, and draw pictures depicting events from the leader’s life and illustrating counsel he has given us.

The next morning, I couldn’t wait to tell the children about my plan. They were excited, too. We agreed that the person who gave the best report would earn a prize and that if a leader whom a child had chosen spoke at conference, that child would also get a prize.

We went to Deseret Industries and purchased old Church magazines that included articles on General Authorities. The next afternoon when the children came home from school, I had the magazines and some snacks waiting. We spent the rest of the day and that night learning about our Church leaders. I was delighted to see how interested the children were. Occasionally I’d hear a chuckle as they ran across a funny happening in the life of “their General Authority.” Even my husband enjoyed learning new things about the men he had long admired.

Later in the week, we took masking tape and divided a wall in our family room into large square sections—one section per family member. Each person filled his section with pictures and illustrations of “his General Authorities.”

On the night before conference, we gave our reports. They were so good that we gave everyone a prize.

I noted new excitement for conference the next day. Several of the men we had studied spoke, and, as they were announced, a call would ring out, “Mom! My General Authority is going to speak!”

Since that time, our family has grown to love general conference, and our reports have become a family tradition.—Sheri Jensen Schauerhamer, Alpine, Utah

Illustrated by Lynn Rogers