Posts tagged service

 

Have you noticed any time in your life when you’ve been so caught up in your emotions and struggles that you fail to see someone else’s, even if they’re right in front of your face?  And since you failed to notice, you missed a valuable service opportunity?  This seems to happen a lot in our family….and sadly, not just with the kids.

 

FHE Theme: Being Mindful of Other People’s Feelings

 

Scripture: Matt. 25:40, Mosiah 2:17

 

Songs: ”If You Chance to Meet a Frown” and “Love One Another” Children’s Songbook

 

Story/activity: Have everyone go into the backyard, or meet in a room that has some space to move around, and make sure there’s nothing extremely dangerous around. Blindfold everyone in the family – except maybe not the parents, because you’re probably going to to want one or two people keeping on eye on things to make sure no one is in real danger.

Once everyone is blindfolded, give them specific instructions.  Stuff like: walk two steps to the left,  now spin in a circle, now find the back door (or an unoccupied chair, or tree, or hidden object, or something else that would be fairly difficult to find when you’re blindfolded and disoriented).  Tell them that they are not allowed to help anyone else, and that no one is going to be offering them hints or clues to follow all the instructions.

It probably won’t take long for your family members to get frustrated or possibly even angry, sad, or just really tired of the game.  When you feel you’ve reached a sufficient level of negative emotions, tell your family that now you are all going to work together.  Tell them to listen for each other’s voices, hold each other’s hands, and to help each other follow the instructions.

Hopefully once everyone pays attention to the needs of the others, and they all work together, they will be able to accomplish the task with more positive feelings and a sense of accomplishment.

Have everyone take off their blindfolds and go back inside, or sit down together, or whatever, and relate to them how if we are only focused on ourselves and how we feel, we miss out on how everyone else is feeling.  Because of this, we miss out on opportunities to help those around us.  And when we can help other people, a lot of the time, we also help ourselves feel happier and it’s easier to have a positive attitude.

There are a number of good stories and articles that you can read to extend your lesson on noticing other’s emotions and helping those around you through service.  If you’d like to pick one (or all) of these to add to your lesson, I like these particular three:

• “What Have I Done for Someone Today?”  by President Thomas S. Monson

• “I’m Sorry Bertha” by Sheron S. Gibb

• “Friend to Friend” by Elder Hartman Rectory, Jr.

I suggest having a family discussion about whichever story you choose.  Ask questions like, “How would this example have been different if the characters were considerate of other people’s feelings?”  or “How did noticing someone else’s feelings and needs make a difference?”

 

If you have smaller children it might be a good idea to discuss the different emotions that we can all experience.  It’s not just “happy and sad” but a wide range of things like “embarrassed” and “afraid” and “shy”.  You can add a quick and easy game of “Feelings Bingo” from Green Jello with Carrots.

This bingo game comes with four different printable bingo cards, and a set of calling cards.  Have some small pieces -or candy!- to mark the squares while you play.  Discussing the emotions found in the game will help your young ones understand and identify not only what they are feeling, but what the people around them are experiencing.

 

End your Family Home Evening with someone’s favorite treat.  Pick someone who has maybe had a tough week, or hasn’t had their favorite food for awhile.  Then you can say that you made hot fudge lava cake (or whatever it is) because you noticed how they needed a little extra attention because you want them to feel happy!