Future Roles
Career possibilities
Purpose
Learn about possible career options and make plans to pursue them.
Description
Ask youth what careers they are interested in, and consider inviting ward members in various careers to share what they do and how to get involved in that field. Consider providing a career interest survey to youth to help them determine possible careers that suit them. You could also sponsor or visit a local job fair to introduce the youth to possible jobs and careers. Encourage the youth to prepare questions before the fair. Discuss how pursuing educational or professional goals will prepare youth for future responsibilities as parents and providers.
Visiting a college or vocational school
Purpose
Become familiar with a college campus and get inspired to pursue higher education.
Description
Visit a local college campus or vocational school to learn about the college experience and educational opportunities. Inquire about entrance requirements, scholarships, financial obligations, and possible career paths. Discuss how pursuing educational or professional goals will prepare youth for future responsibilities as parents and providers.
A house of order
Purpose
Learn how to keep a clean and orderly home.
Description
Learn basic organizational and house-cleaning skills from a mentor in fun, creative ways. For example, make a game or competition out of cleaning tasks. Identify the equipment needed and proper methods to maintain an orderly home. Discuss the blessings that come from maintaining a house of order. After learning the skills, use them to serve someone in need, or clean the rooms in the meetinghouse as practice.
Cook-off
Purpose
Share talents and practice cooking various dishes.
Description
Have youth and adult leaders prepare favorite family recipes and serve them at a casual dinner. Provide awards in a variety of categories, such as most attractive, best tasting, most nutritious, most unique, and so on. Consider having a panel of judges made up of youth, youth leaders, and ward leaders. You may want to invite parents to attend. Discuss the benefits of healthy eating or ways you can use cooking to serve others.
Family home evening practice
Purpose
Learn now to teach the gospel in the home.
Description
Before the activity, have the youth choose a gospel topic and brainstorm ideas for teaching that topic in family home evening. They could get ideas from things they have done in their own families.
Assign youth or groups of youth to prepare various parts of family home evening (for example, scripture, song, prayer, lesson, activity, treats). During your activity, have the youth perform the roles they have been assigned as you model a family home evening. Then create a family home evening kit for the youth to take home. The kit could include an assignment chart, lesson materials, activity instructions, and a treat recipe. Talk about the importance of participating in family home evening now in order to have it as an effective tool in strengthening future families.
Fatherhood panel discussion
Purpose
Learn qualities to develop or qualities to look for in a spouse in the future.
Description
Invite several fathers and mothers to participate in a panel discussion about what makes a great father. How do they preside over, provide for, and protect their families and help their wives as equal partners? Encourage the youth to ask questions about fatherhood. They could submit them beforehand. Consider having the youth ask about specific scenarios and having the fathers respond with how they would handle them.
Future parents
Purpose
Learn how to care for children.
Description
Conduct a childcare seminar to learn the basic developmental stages of children and how to meet their needs. Play some games children would enjoy, create an obstacle course to teach about child safety, or learn and perform some fun bedtime stories, rhymes, or songs to entertain children. Conclude the activity with a discussion about other ways youth can prepare now to be righteous parents in the future. Invite the youth to put these skills into practice through babysitting, volunteering in the nursery, or in other ways.
Home maintenance
Purpose
Develop practical skills for improving and maintaining a home.
Description
Have an adult leader or youth teach a variety of practical home skills, such as ironing, sewing, plumbing, identifying and using tools, and so on. You could hold a friendly competition to test the youth on how fast or how well they can complete these tasks. Discuss why these skills are important for fulfilling future roles as parents.
Home painting
Purpose
Perform service while learning how to update and maintain a home.
Description
Invite an experienced painter to demonstrate and teach the skill of house painting. Under the direction of the bishop, select a home of someone in need and arrange for the youth and advisers to paint a room, fence, wall, or other area. Consider discussing these questions: How did it feel to provide service? How will knowing how to paint help me become self-reliant? What are some of the connections between painting and gospel principles? Encourage the youth to participate in a painting project with their families.
Honor thy parents
Purpose
Strengthen relationships with and respect for parents.
Description
Have youth collect photos and personal objects that tell about their parents. They could talk with their parents about how they met, what it was like when they grew up, their accomplishments, and their interests. Have youth bring a favorite song of their parents to play or perform for the group. Invite the youth’s parents to the meeting, and take turns having the youth introduce their parents to the group using the items they gathered. After the presentations, ask youth to express or write things they admire about their parents and show their gratitude for their sacrifices and love. Conclude the activity with a discussion on why God commanded us to “honor thy father and mother.” Have the youth reflect on how they can know and honor their Heavenly Father.
How to pay for schooling
Purpose
Prepare financially for higher education.
Description
Have a school counselor or someone from an employment center in your area discuss the opportunities for scholarships and financing available to students. Discuss the Perpetual Education Fund if it applies to your area. Encourage the youth to make a plan for how they will pay for school. This could include obtaining a job and saving for college, determining what they would need to do to qualify for a scholarship, or securing financial aid. If possible, give the youth time to practice filling out applications. Discuss how pursuing educational or professional goals will prepare youth for future responsibilities as parents and providers.
How to succeed in school
Purpose
Give older youth the opportunity to help younger youth be successful in school.
Description
Find out what school subjects are difficult for the youth, and pair each youth with someone who can help with those subjects. Invite them to discuss topics like effective strategies for studying and why it’s important to work hard in school to prepare for future responsibilities. Discuss Doctrine and Covenants 88:78–80 and what these verses teach about pursuing education. Consider organizing ongoing study groups or assigning tutors for those who may need extra help.
Job searching
Purpose
Learn how to find and obtain jobs.
Description
Invite the stake or ward employment specialist to share with the youth how he or she helps prepare individuals to find employment. Ask the employment specialist to help the youth with some basic job-search skills (such as networking, interviewing, or writing resumes) and tips (such as dress and grooming and how to appear calm and confident). Consider letting the youth practice these skills with each other (for example, in simulated interviews). You could also give them time to prepare their own resumes or practice filling out job applications. Discuss how different careers could affect your family and Church activity.
Learning to cook
Purpose
Learn to plan and prepare nutritious meals.
Description
Invite a good cook in your community to teach the youth how to plan meals, grocery shop, and implement basic cooking skills. As a follow-up activity, divide into groups to prepare different parts of a meal. Come together to enjoy the meal and share it with others from the ward. Discuss the importance of understanding how to prepare food to benefit ourselves and others.
Library science
Purpose
Learn how to make the most of the resources at a local library.
Description
Visit a local library to learn about the available resources to help students in their educational pursuits (see D&C 88:118). Under the direction of the librarian, tour the library and become acquainted with procedures and guidelines for effective use of materials. Youth could also learn skills for more effective Internet research.
Money matters
Purpose
Become financially responsible now to prepare for the future.
Description
Consider sharing a real-life scenario to help the youth understand the cost of living. Discuss the importance of living within your means. Learn how to create and live on a basic budget, including paying tithes and offerings, saving for future expenses, avoiding interest on loans and credit cards, understanding student loans, and living debt-free. Share ways that becoming financially self-reliant frees us to better serve and bless others.
Motherhood panel discussion
Purpose
Learn qualities to develop or qualities to look for in a spouse in the future.
Description
Invite several mothers and fathers to participate in a panel discussion about what makes a great mother. How do they nurture their children, teach their families, and help their husbands as equal partners? Encourage the youth to ask questions about motherhood. They could submit them beforehand. Consider having the youth ask about specific scenarios and having the mothers respond with how they would handle them.
Prepare for temple marriage
Purpose
Prepare for a happy, eternal marriage by setting goals to become a righteous spouse.
Description
Decorate a room in your meetinghouse with pictures of temples, preferably the temples closest to where you live. Invite your parents to attend the activity. You could ask the advisers and parents to bring pictures of their weddings and the dresses or suits they wore when they were married. With permission from the bishop or branch president, ask several parents to be prepared to speak about the temple marriage covenant. Ask them to share how they prepared for marriage, how they decided whom to marry, and what they are doing now to strengthen their marriages. Invite your class or quorum to set goals to prepare to be married in the temple and to honor the marriage covenant.
Scripture study skills
Purpose
Learn study skills for use at home, church, seminary, and school.
Description
Invite a leader, youth, or seminary teacher to talk about studying the scriptures. Have him or her demonstrate scripture marking, taking notes, topical study, scripture journaling, and so on in a practical, hands-on way. Give the youth a photocopied page of scripture to practice on. Then invite an adult to talk about how those techniques can be applied to other educational pursuits. Give the youth an interesting article or story to practice on. Discuss how spiritual and temporal educations are intertwined.
Study skill stations
Purpose
Develop study skills that can help the youth in school now and later in life.
Description
Invite a teacher, tutor, or successful student to teach and demonstrate effective study skills. Provide the youth with opportunities to practice these skills. Consider setting up stations where youth practice skills like reading challenging texts, taking notes, organizing information, studying for tests, writing essays, memorization tips, and so on. As a part of the activity, read and discuss the counsel in Doctrine and Covenants 88:118.