Sharing Time: a Mother’s Roles
by EmilyCC
Phew! I’m a little worn out from last week’s lesson, so this week’s isn’t quite done yet. I’ll be putting something from the scriptures in here later.
Family Model
We have a model of what a family looks like.
Play 4th verse of “O My Father.”
Who is named in this song?
Today, we’re going to talk about mothers and their roles.
What do mothers do?
What does your mom do in your house to make it a happy one?
If you’d like to go into gender specifics, by all means…
Some traits I’d like to see covered include: loving, protecting, helping, giving advice.
Girls, what can you do to grow up to be good moms?
Scriptures
Ok, I’m still working on this; I can’t decide if I want to do a game like last week with different mothers in the scriptures or if I want to list traits of mothers in scripture verses. I’ll update as soon as I do.
Mothers/Mother-like
Last week, we talked about how sometimes, our dads may not live with us. Sometimes, our moms aren’t able to either. We may live with our grandmas or foster moms, our aunts or our friends.
Even if our moms are around, we can see that a mother’s job is so big, so we have lots of people who mother us, too.
When I lived in Boston, I was far away from my mom, and I had a teacher who was a Catholic nun. That means she never had children or married, but she loved me and took care of me and my son when he was sick. She was more than just my friend.
Do you have other women who influence you like a mother does?
Extra Roles
Sometimes, moms have to do more than just be the mom; they also have to be the dad.
That sounds like a tough job, doesn’t it?
I didn’t get to this one last week, so I’ll use it this week.
Dallin H. Oaks: My mother loved that scripture and lived its principle. The greatest affliction of her life was the death of her husband, our father, after only 11 years of marriage. This changed her life and imposed great hardships as she proceeded to earn a living and raise her three little children alone. Nevertheless, I often heard her say that the Lord consecrated that affliction for her gain because her husband’s death compelled her to develop her talents and serve and become something that she could never have become without that seeming tragedy. Our mother was a spiritual giant, strong and fully worthy of the loving tribute her three children inscribed on her headstone: “Her Faith Strengthened All.”
The blessings of adversity extend to others. I know it was a blessing to be raised by a widowed mother whose children had to learn how to work, early and hard. I know that relative poverty and hard work are not greater adversities than affluence and abundant free time. I also know that strength is forged in adversity and that faith is developed in a setting where we cannot see ahead.
Activity
Have each child write a thank-you note for his/her mother or a mother-figure in his/her life. You might even construct the note with fill-in-the-blank statements, such as “I especially appreciate the way you _________,” “I love it when you cook __________,” “Thanks for teaching me __________.” Younger children might draw something they appreciate about their mother.
Credit goes to sugardoodle.net for this activity.
Conclusion
We all have important responsibilities in our family in order. As you’ve seen moms and dads have big things they need to do, but we have the responsibility to make sure that we help them–that we do what they ask us to do and that we go the extra mile when we can to help get work done.
Bear your testimony about the importance of family and each of our roles.
Love the thank you note activity!
You totally rock for using “O My Father”.
I’m sorry, I just have to ask this.
What is the point of asking a 6 year old (or even 12 year old) girl what she can do to grow up to be a good mom?
I just don’t see the point of asking little kids something that can only seem totally abstract to them. Teaching them the gospel will help them be good moms, and that’s enough at that age.
Emily U., I doubt the kids will have really insightful ideas about how to be good mothers. But, I put the question in there because I think it’s a good way to get kids thinking about how they want to achieve that goal.
Thanks for this.
I think it is a very important question. In the times we live in children are being told over and over the importance of education, a woman’s right to choose, that you don’t need a man, to be a mother or any traditional things and we have an obligation to teach them the great blessings of being a mother. That even though it is often hard and unappreciated, it is the greatest thing you can do as a woman. There is no age too young. That is one of the most inherent things we know as females, you can see it in young girls when they play with dolls. I love that we have this opportunity and am thankful for the proclamation to the family in these days and times.
Love using Oh my Father” as part of the lesson. I also think we underestimate children’s ability to answer some questions. I plan to ask my daughter what she thinks she could do to be a good mom/person. I’m interested in her answer. I like the question. I guess you ask kids to what do you think makes a good mom/dad as an alternative. Just an idea.
I am planning on using your ideas for our FHE lesson again tonight. It has worked so far to add to the very gender specific lesson my daughter got at church. So thank you!!!!