Conference Words

In my home teaching visits to the Fawson family over the last year and a half we have talked a few times about conference.  In those visits they have shared their family tradition with me.  It is something that gets the kids involved in listening for each word spoken in conference.  The activity focuses on principles of the gospel like faith, prayer, love, family, service, scriptures, prophets, temples, missions, the Spirit, the Savior among others.  You actually choose the words.  Each family member sits with a page and puts a tally mark every time the word is mentioned.  Younger children pair up with an older family member and in the end they count up their totals.  They have prizes for those who are most accurate.  The kids absolutely love it.

 I am not a parent that forces my kids to sit still and watch conference.  I find that doing so takes more of my energy and attention then just being able to sit and watch it myself.  Perhaps I am completely selfish in this regard.  I encourage them to come and listen.  I turn up the sound in hopes that they will somehow find themselves listening and that a story will touch their hearts.  I try to lead them by listening myself.  I don't know that I have really had any success with that. 

Ben sent me a copy of the spreadsheet they use in their family. I didn't get it printed in time for yesterdays sessions but got over to the LBH and printed it out yesterday afternoon so we could use it today. Wow. I showed it to the kids last night and they were excited about it. Today we gave it a go and I have to say it was a great success. We all started off together with our sheets and our words in mind.  Jack and Natty both handled their own sheets, Andy sat with me off and on.  He had his moments when he wanted to listen and then he would wander off to do something else.  I was fine with that.  Jack and Natty however stayed in the room and listened to every talk.  We probably did it a little different and helped each other by quietly calling out each word that was mentioned.  Jack was really excited by the points he was tallying up.  I didn't do it as a head to head competition rather everyone got a prize and they were really happy about it. 

More important then the prizes was the fact that we all sat and listened to the stories, the scriptures, and the testimonies that were shared.  In Elder Nelsons talk when he discussed how the eyes work and how the heart functions Jack was totally glued.  He had his hand over his heart and his eyes wide open.  Natty talked about how they had just learned about the eyes in class.  Natty listened intently to Elder Wilson talk and said how much she liked him.  The story he shared about his daughter playing in a soccer game on Sunday stood out to her.  The story about the quake in Haiti and the family with three children that were buried and rescued had Andy's full attention.  Then of course there were the parting words of love and encouragement from President Monson and all of us sat and listened. 

Conference words, who knew?  Well, the Fawsons, and I'm sure lots of others.  I loved it because of how easy it was and that it didn't detract from the messages.  It kept us alert and listening to every word.  It was a great activity and more importantly a great conference.