Okay, does anyone else wonder why you do family home evening? I know WHY (we are supposed to) but I don't know WHY if you know what I mean. One of my friends said that you never know when something you say or teach will sink into one of the kids so you do it and hope someone is getting it. I have though about this a lot. I have 6 kids and so the chances are that one of them might actually be listening and getting something out of it. At least that is what I tell myself as I grit my teeth on Monday nights. Last night is a great example of why I feel this way...
We start off singing "We thank thee O God for a prophet" which is a great song. But Ryan wanted to sing all 3 verses so after the first verse, we got out the extra hymn book and tried to situate it so everyone who didn't know it could sing. Rachael was already mad so she was rolled up in a ball on the couch and wouldn't even look at the book. In fact, she was bugged that Kristin was even trying to share it with her. I only had Kristin sit by her for half of a verse. Then we stop, have Kristin move over to share with Brandon. But Brandon is trying to follow Ryan who is getting the verses mixed up and kind of making things up as he goes. Cameron is 'leading' and Jacob is walking around the coffee table.
During the lesson, (which lasted maybe 15 minutes) kids are participating as little as possible, walking around, trying to sleep on the couch, bugging the kid next to them, throwing markers at other kids, and playing with Matthew. At one point I stop everything and announce that I am the only one listening to Rachael's part (Rachael has decided to sit up to read her section). And I really was. Everyone else, including my significant other (he was holding up Matthew with one hand above his head talking to him) was doing something else. By the end, I am getting groans as we sing the 12 apostles last names in order to the tune of 10 little indians. (we are trying to memorize them).
We get through closing prayer, and announce that our activity is weeding the garden (it's good for the kids to weed every once in a while). Everyone has to pull 40 weeds and then 10 extra for Matthew since Matthew can't weed yet. Rachael runs into the bathroom crying and slams the door. Jacob runs into his room and climbs on his bed crying (he is still angry because we wouldn't let him play his gameboy during FHE). Kristin yells and slams a few doors saying nothing is worth getting ice cream at the end because she "hates" ice cream. Ryan goes outside happy as a clam (he likes the garden) and Matthew is crying because he has a tummy ache. Eventually, the kids make it outside with a garbage bag to collect their weeds in. Rachael is the last to head out after staying in the bathroom for 10 minutes. Jacob goes out shortly before yelling that everyone is being mean to him.
The kids each pull 40 weeds in about 2 minutes and come in for ice cream. Everyone ate ice cream except the girls (they don't like it and were still rebelling) and so I sent them to bed early.
So does that sound like there is any significant learning involved? I sat in the house and paced the hallway with Matthew as the kids were weeding trying to get him to stop fussing and thinking that there must be someone else out there who has less than perfect FHE's. I would love to hear that it is all worth it in the end. Sometimes we have a kid or two sitting backwards on the couch before we even start because they don't want to be there. I figure they can be in the room so they can at least hear what is going on even if they don't want to participate. And even though we could all sit on our couch and love seat, no one wants to touch each other or they DO want to sit close to another kid so they can bug them. Often times, someone is trying to lay down on the couch or floor so they can "sleep" instead of participating.
I remember having FHE when the three older were little. They were fun. Much less complicated. We played sink or float (with a bowl of water and random objects to test to see if they sink or float). We sang primary songs and had a little lesson with stuffed animals or little people about being nice or sharing. Maybe we should revert our lessons back to the good old days....
4 comments:
Hey Diane,
I have been enjoying your blog. After getting about 4 invites in a week to see others blogs, and a friend who kept asking me to do one, I finally started my own. You were part of that inspiration.
Thank you!
We all have less than perfect FHE's. I had one child who was consistantly a stinker, so he did the lessons for a month. He loved it, and I think his attention span improved a bit, only when he gives the lesson though. WE too have kids climbing all over the couch and taking things away from the youngest to make her scream....
Tami :-)
Our best FHE's are when we give the kids the treat during the lesson or when we use toys (like the little people Noah's ark ) to teach. We definately have our share of not so uplifting FHE's though. I can only imagine we we have teenagers, yikes!
This is the "significant other" and in my own defense, holding Matthew and keeping him happy during FHE is a good and noble thing. I paying attention to the kids reciting their Apostle info, (mostly). And I only wanted to sing the first part of the second verse, not necessarily the rest of the hymn. It was significant at the time because it states "When dark clouds of trouble hang over us, and threaten our peace to destroy, (things weren't very peaceful at that moment) there is hope smiling brightly before us..." Anyway, I thought it related to the current emotional states of several of our kids, and all I was saying is it's not so bad. C'mon kids! There's hope smiling brightly before us, darnit! Ok, ok, it was cheesy at the time, but FHE's at our home have gotten progressively more creative and desperate. After all, I just live here.
Diane - I love reading your blog! I too would like to see an FHE that goes smoothly. It'd probably be like our old nursery leaders who always said how easy it was to teach a lesson to little kids and I was amazed and thought they were wonderful teachers until I went in and saw that they gave the kids handfuls of marshmallows and goldfish and hurry and taught their lesson while everyone was quietly eating. Ours is always crazy. Last week Brennen tried giving some kind of object lesson with water (it totally went over the girls' heads) and I let Tanner get too close and he started splashing like crazy. Kensie liked the idea and picked up the bowl and dumped it on Brennen. If we were Catholic we could have said it was a lesson on baptism and ended right there. So you have hyperthyroidism huh? I know a great endocrinologist if ya want to see him - he's hilarious! Mine comes and goes - apparently it runs in our family. Jaimie, Jeff and my dad have thryoid problems. How have you been feeling? Wow - I should've just emailed ya - hang in there and talk to ya later.
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