My faith

I'm a Mormon.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Agency and...puppets?

I wanted to write about two things that are completely unrelated.

First, I was thinking about Agency. We discussed this in Relief Society today, and one question that was brought up is how to teach our children about agency and choices/consequences. I mentioned that one thing I do is to allow chances to make simple choices often (which is encouraged by pretty much every parenting book I've ever read, from Love & Logic, to Positive Discipline, to Raising Optimistic Children.) But it got me thinking. Surely there is more we can do to directly teach our children about the Plan of Salvation and how agency plays a part in that.

We can read scriptures to them. Noah made a choice to follow Heavenly Father, whereas the wicked people of the Earth chose not to, and therefore drown in the flood. Nephi choose to obey God's commandments, instead of murmuring like his brothers, and he was blessed because of it.

I think our little children are easy to teach. They are sponges, and it isn't hard to teach even difficult Gospel topics by using stories from the scriptures. I'll probably think of more ways to teach this as I ponder more.
HOW do YOU teach your kids about agency?

PUPPETS! I recently hit the JACKPOT at Michael's. They have a dollar aisle, and I found some great hand puppets for $2 each. I also remembered my Elementary Ed theater class, where we learned, among many many other things, how to use puppets to help with classroom management. I LOVE when school helps in real life.

Tonight the lion puppet helped DD1 brush her teeth, dance, clean up toys, and get her jammies on. If you have a toddler/young child who has a hard time getting ready for bed/going somewhere/dinner/etc, get out a hand puppet, use a silly voice, and have fun doing it!!
What ideas do YOU have to use puppets in your daily routines?

1 comment:

Jenny said...

cute idea with the puppets I'm sure my boys would love that. We've made some with old mismatched socks and blued on eyes and pom-pom noses (they boys say there are elmo and cookie monster) :)

loved the fulfilled post too. It is a good reminder that this is what I CHOSE to do and what I want; now what can and do and how can I make this choice to be a full-time mom (almost as an occupation...since heaven knows there are a lot of responsibilities and role to play as a mom 24/7!) the best it and I can be.