When I found out I was pregnant with my new daughter, Linda, I was in shock. I wasn’t planning on becoming pregnant so soon and I spent the first trimester in a depression that allowed me to only play video games.

Labor was hard and it’s difficult to bond with a newborn: they don’t smile; they don’t do much of anything. You can’t tell if they actually like you, even a little bit. When I was 3 weeks postpartum, my husband took our two oldest to Disneyland for a weekend so that I could get a break from having three kids underfoot. However, having a single colicky baby without a partner to pass her off to when you’re tired is difficult, too. It was in those three days of solitude with my daughter that I tried very hard to “bond.” I felt bad for not wanting to be pregnant 9 months earlier. I didn’t want her to feel unwanted.

When my husband came home from the Disneyland trip I told him, “I want to hold her for her baby blessing. I want to make up for not being happy about the pregnancy. It’d be like a public apology to her, a reconciliation.”

The culture around baby blessings is such that if you have the blessing at home, the family has a lot more freedom in how it is done, however, if you do it in a church, there are more restrictions. I was split: I wanted to have the freedom of a home blessing, but wanted to share it with our whole ward.

This is a question I’ve been wanting to pose for a while now, and this seems like a good forum for it.

I believe in the past I’ve mentioned that I am childless by choice. There are a variety of reasons that I don’t want kids, and I believe that it would be unfair to all involved if I were to have kids before I want them.

My feelings about kids seems to have put me very much in the minority. Most people I encounter can’t seem to fathom not wanting children. I’m often asked, “But why don’t you want kids?” It appears that wanting kids is considered normal and not wanting them is considered abnormal. But just as many people can’t understand why I don’t want kids, I can’t understand why people do want kids. I respect that people do, but I don’t know why they do.

So the question I have is, why did/do you want kids? Have your feelings about wanting kids changed? And is reasonable to ask someone why they want kids, or is that like asking why someone likes chocolate or doesn’t like the color orange? Can you explain it, or is it something inherent that can’t really be explained?

There’s a new Bloggernacle blog out that I wanted to highlight today. “It’s Time for Sharing” is a new blog for Primary teachers and leaders. As time goes on, they hope to cover all the Nursery, Sunbeam, CTR, and Valient lessons along with sharing time and singing time ideas. The goals of It’s Time for Sharing are to

• Keep Christ as the focus of our lessons
• Invite and incorporate the Spirit
• Be scripture-based
• Teach solid principles without relying on ‘cute’ or ‘fluff’
• Promote active rather than passive learning
• Adapt lessons according to the children we teach
• Reflect the varied personal experiences of children around the world

Jeans, of Beginnings New fame, shares a little about the origins of this new blog,

“It’s Time for Sharing” got a start when Karen Spencer and I gave some of the go-getters a little encouragement, as they commented on my other blog (Beginnings New) – the original post & their comments is here.

Jessica asked a simple question: hey, is there something like this for Primary? The Primary manuals are also, in some places, outdated or not applicable to a more ethnically diverse Primary, and how are sensitive and progressive Primary leaders and teachers making appropriate adaptations and updates? I wasn’t aware of anything out there – the “lesson helps” niche is stuffed with fluff, which I guess has a market but doesn’t really spiritually nourish either the teacher or the learners, no matter how old they are.

As a counselor in a Primary presidency, I feel like part of my calling is to minister to the spiritual needs of ALL the people in Primary. As I often say, “we’re all children… just different ages.” Sometimes Primary can be an isolating calling, and having a community of folks to talk things over with on a deeper level than “what clip art should I use” can help in that effort. Teaching plain doctrine elegantly and creatively to young people is tremendously satisfying and it emulates what the Savior did on many occasions. Primary is about helping people be stronger disciples of Christ, no matter how old they are, and I think there’s definitely room for us & the conversations we will generate out there in the Bloggernacle. Those are some of my hopes for the Primary “sister site” to Beginnings New at its launch. It has been a lot of fun being part of the behind-the-scenes excitement pulling it together VERY fast over the last 2 weeks!

Jenni B. states,

My experience as a mother, school teacher, childbirth educator, and graduate student of psychology have taught me that people of all ages–even tiny babies–know and understand far more than we give them credit for. I refuse to dumb-down lessons just because my students are young. They are honest enough to ask questions if they don’t understand. They are hungry for truth, and I am trying to offer as much sustenance as I can.

A few months ago I had the idea for a blog like this–and was delighted to find others with similar ideas with whom I could join forces–so that teachers who have greater experience or time could share our lesson ideas with those who may not have so much.

If you are in Primary and want some more ideas on how to approach lessons, check them out! And if you are full of great ideas, they’re looking for more bloggers and guest posts.

Thank you to Jenne for suggesting this poll topic.

When I attended a baby blessing at a friend’s LDS ward building,  I was thrilled by their nursery room.  The room had windows on the doors so parents could check on their children without interrupting the class; huge, built-in toy boxes and shelves; and (best of all) an adjacent restroom with a toddler-sized toilet.

In my ward building, the children’s classrooms look like all of the other rooms.  The advantage to generic rooms is flexibility–any children’s classroom could be used as an adult classroom instead, if necessary.  However, such generic rooms sacrifice the opportunity to include age-appropriate decor, supplies and amenities.