A Spooky Attitude!

Well, it's been a while. ;)

This has probably been the year I've been the most hands on and diligent about teaching my kids the Gospel of Christ, but it seems that prep work and hands on time has cut into my time for documenting and sharing it! It was a conscious choice to move this blog to the back burner so I didn't get completely burned out! 3 moves and a year and half later we are close to settled down back in our own home again and I'm eager to (little by little) get back to sharing tips on teaching our kids.

 One great step we took this year towards improving the spirituality in our home was to choose a theme to focus our Family Home Evenings and scripture time on each month. We even made a place in our home to post the theme, that month's scripture and an Article of Faith. Chad and I would try to choose something we felt we all could use some work on and we'd go from there, finding activities and scriptures that related to it.

 For example, this month our topic has been Attitude. Each night we work on memorizing Article of Faith #10 and then spend time reciting Luke 22:42, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." It's been wonderful teaching our kids and reminding ourselves that even Jesus Christ had some things in life he didn't want to go through. But he still did what his Father asked of him. He had an Attitude of love and submissiveness and obedience. And that's exactly the kind of attitude we should have and exemplify.

It's really easy to find opportunities to sneak in teaching moments and tie in the theme for the month, if that's something you would like to implement, even within holiday traditions. For instance, one family night we talked about Attitude while carving pumpkins.

 First, this was a great activity because it was festive, messy and hands-on.  Kids LOVE all of that!  It also gave us time to bond and work on something as a family. 

But then besides having fun we also talked about the different kinds of faces we could put on a pumpkin, and how those faces made us feel. It gave us the chance to talk about a range of emotions and learn some new "feeling" words.

Then we took the next step and discussed how the expressions on our faces often show what kind of attitude we have.

 Of course, if we have a spooky or scary attitude it can be hard to make friends or have a good day.  So we want to try to feel happy!  Dad's pumpkin carving was a little too spooky for Sammy.

And if we are having a difficult attitude, explain why and then try to get help and change it!  Maybe it's because we're scared...

 and just need some comfort or someone to turn the light's on!

We had a great time learning about the importance of a good attitude.  More ideas to come!  The time you spend strengthening your testimony and sharing it with your children is priceless!  And remember, the Gospel IS true!  

Love, Eva