Additional Sharing Time Ideas, October 2009

The following are additional ideas Primary leaders may use with the Sharing Time printed in the October 2009 Liahona. For the lesson, instructions, and activity that correspond with these ideas, see “We Believe the Family Is Ordained of God” on pages F4 and F5 of the children’s section in this issue.

1. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” teaches my family how to be happy. Hand out copies of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” to each child. Have the children look in paragraph 7 and circle the word happiness. (Teachers or older children can help the younger children.) Read paragraph 7, beginning with “Happiness in family life” and ending with “wholesome recreational activities.”

   On each of nine pieces of paper, write one of the following principles: faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, family activities. In random order, display pictures that correspond to the principles. (Examples: faith: Gospel Art Picture Kit 318 [The Brother of Jared Sees the Finger of the Lord]; prayer: 605 [Young Boy Praying]; repentance: 321 [Conversion of Alma the Younger]; forgiveness: 230 [The Crucifixion]; respect: 611 [The Bishop]; love: 213 [Christ Healing a Blind Man]; compassion: 420 [The Prophet Joseph Loved Children]; work: 615 [Serving One Another]; family activities: 616 [Family Togetherness].) Let each class choose one of the papers. Have them work together with their teacher’s help to tell the Primary how the principle can bring happiness to their families. Then let all of the children suggest which picture illustrates the principle. Bear testimony that we can help our families when we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

2. “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” teaches my family the importance of work. Have the children hold up fingers to count each of the nine principles while you read paragraph 7 from “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” beginning with “Successful marriages and families” and ending with “wholesome recreational activities.” See if they can remember the eighth principle (work). To teach the importance and value of work, tell the following story about President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. As a young boy, he worked at his parents’ laundry business, delivering laundry before and after school. For many years he had to ride a big, heavy bicycle, pulling a laundry cart up and down the streets of their town. He said: “Sometimes the cart seemed so heavy and the work so tiring that I thought my lungs would burst, and I often had to stop to catch my breath. Nevertheless, I did my part because I knew we desperately needed the income as a family, and it was my way to contribute.” Dieter knew his hard work as a delivery boy was helping his family. But it wasn’t until many years later that he learned how his hard work helped cure him of a lung disease he never knew he had. He said, “My regular exercise in fresh air as a laundry boy had been a key factor in my healing from this illness” (“See the End from the Beginning,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2006, 43).

   Ask: How do you think delivering laundry helped President Uchtdorf’s family? What are some things you do to help your family? President Uchtdorf said riding the bike and pulling the laundry cart was hard work. What work do you do that is hard? Besides helping his family, how did the hard work help President Uchtdorf? How does working hard help you?