Children of Two Households

Do you teach a class or plan activities involving children who divide their time between two households? As a stepmother of two such children, I’d like to share some positive things our Church leaders have done to include us.

• Be sensitive to the children’s schedules. When possible, try to plan important activities when the child can be in attendance. For instance, their involvement in Primary opening exercises or sharing time might be planned in advance. Though it can be difficult to accommodate everyone, we appreciate it when Church leaders make an effort to do so. Our experience has been that the children have little or no control of their visitation schedules, and it’s better for our relationship with the other parent to suggest as few changes as possible.

• Prepare lessons with them in mind. Quickly review last week’s lesson to help the child catch up. One kind Primary teacher even informed us of the Sunday lessons we had missed so we could teach them at family home evening when everyone was together. Also, consider avoiding attendance sticker charts that are meant to show everyone’s progress but instead visually single out the children who can’t regularly participate.

Today’s children live in a variety of circumstances. We appreciate teachers who make every effort to involve our children at church and help them gain testimonies of the Savior and His gospel.
Tricia Aagard, Wyoming

Illustration by Joe Flores