I had grand plans to print bingo sheets and set out bowls of healthy treats to keep my kids engaged during General Conference this weekend. It's one of those things I'm never sure about, having not grown up in the church- do you force them to sit and watch? All four sessions? Are bribes okay?
I went with a yes to all three, and since I never did find the time to prep anything, I made the rash promise during the opening hymn on Saturday morning of a candy bar for each full session watched. (By 'watched' I mean, they stayed in the room the whole time- I'm not one to set the bar too high.) Brigham's response to my offer was a shrewd, "king-size?"
Sure, why not.
You know what? It worked like a charm. They mostly rolled around on the floor and stared at the ceiling, but every now and again something caught their attention, and I call that success. One thing that caught everyone's attention was the mention of our Stake President as a newly-called area authority seventy, which prompted Eric to text our Bishop and suggest that he start growing a beard. Our Stake President is AMAZING- we'll miss him. We also got excited to hear Elder Halleck speak, since he was the general authority who interviewed Eric during the BYU recruitment process.
I'm off to "re-listen" to President Monson's talk, as I may have dozed a bit during the Sunday morning session. But I definitely woke up for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's incredible rendition of Come Thou Fount.
I'm always sad when conference weekend is over, but happy to have inspiration and instruction to last another six months.
6 comments:
Ok, so funny - I keep a list of things I might want to blog about over the next few weeks, and some Come Thou Fount lyrics made it on there yesterday!
As someone who DID grow up in the church - yes, bribes are acceptable, and no, there's no way that your small kids are going to sit and "listen" through four sessions!
Grammie - I love it! Maybe she can give Brigham a similar nickname.
Our house looked similar. :) Kids rolling around on the floor, but paying attention at times, too. We went for the 'one on Saturday' and 'one on Sunday' approach with them. I've kind of found that no matter how much preparation I put into having stuff for the kids to do, they're always about the same. Pretty good with a few needy outbursts here and there. So, here's to no planning!
Oh my heavens--did your heart about stop when the men came in on Come Thou Font after that quiet organ solo???
The bingo-candy-conference-thing has been a tradition at our house since I was a kid . . . or I guess I brought it to "our" house from mine as a kid, but I have no problem with it, even if the bingo-ing only lasts a little bit :)
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