Sharing Time:

We Grow to Be Like Our Parents

By Pat Graham

Honour thy father and thy mother (Matt. 19:19).

As you grow older, you will become more and more like your parents. Maybe your hair will be the same color as your mother’s. Perhaps you will be as tall as your father. We often become like our parents in the things we do and the way we do them. We honor our parents when we do the right things that they have taught us.

There is someone else whom we can grow to be like. In the Bible we read that “God created man in his own image” (Gen. 1:27). Besides being similar in appearance to our Father in Heaven, we can also become like Him in the things we do.

Look at the picture puzzles on this page. As you can see, each puzzle piece has only one matching piece. Bunnies grow to be rabbits—they never grow to be frogs! And an apple seed will not grow to be a pine tree; it will become an apple tree.

Illustrated by Julie F. Young

Instructions

1. On blank puzzle pieces draw yourself and what you want to become.

2. Color pictures and cut out all puzzle pieces.

3. Read poem and do finger play actions.

4. During a family home evening, use puzzles to teach finger play.

Sharing Time Ideas

1. Make large set of puzzles. Pass out pieces and have children match them.

2. Teach poem “Growing” and finger play.

3. Make copy of puzzle pieces for each child to color and take home.

4. Ask older children what qualities they have developed that are like those of their parents (sense of humor, patience, talents, thoughtfulness, unselfishness, etc.). Discuss what qualities we would need to develop for us to be more like our Father in Heaven.

Additional resource: “Friend to Friend,” Boyd K. Packer, the Friend, June 1972, page 10.