Monday, May 9, 2011

Living the Gospel in Latter-Days: Sharing your Testimony

I have been thinking about this for a few days now, and it came up several times in our Relief Society yesterday, so I thought I'd put the question to you:

How do you share your testimony with your young children?

While it's important to share our testimony with our children, I don't think it needs to be quite the formal declaration like we might hear in Fast and Testimony Meeting at church. I believe it can and should be a much more natural, conversational thing that can be easily discussed often within our homes. The trick is figuring out how to do that!

In what situations do you share spiritual thoughts with your children?

At what age do you actively start teaching gospel principles?

How do the things you share change as your children get older?

I recognize that this particular topic is rather personal and could vary greatly from family to family, but I think it's worth sharing our ideas! Let us know what you think.


~Laura~

2 comments:

Tannie Datwyler said...

I'm not as good as this as I would like to be either. Mostly I share my testimony with my little ones in FHE. That correlates to when I teach gospel principles too. Though sometimes just during the day my daughter will ask a question that relates to the gospel and I have the chance to teach - I LOVE that. And when your child is old enough to ask those questions, you know they are ready to hear your testimony more.

Britta said...

I always say things like 'I love when the house is clean, it helps me feel the spirit!' or 'I love it when you are nice to your sister. I'm so glad we get to be a family forever!'

I try to keep religious things as a secondary topic of conversation as much as possible. So in the care we'll try memorizing the first article of faith, or we'll sing primary songs, etc. That way there is always the opportunity to say 'You know, I really love the gospel' or 'I'm so glad that Jesus is our Older Brother'.

Our testimonies don't have to be grand delcarations (although those are important) and I think it is vital to keep your testimonies short and sweet- on one topic at a time when kids are young.