Got Grandkids? Ideas for Transmitting Faith and Values to our Grandchildren

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1 Got Grandkids? Ideas for Transmitting Faith and Values to our Grandchildren Building Faith in Grandchildren: 1. Spend regular quality time together. My mother has a weekly grandma day. We are all invited to come for lunch and to visit and play. Sometimes she plans special activities or field trips for the kids, but most of the time we just visit and let the kids enjoy playing together. We always look forward to Grandma Day! Ashley Wood When my grandchildren come to my house, I try to spend my time with them and not just send them off on their own to play. I feel that giving them my personal attention will help build strong relationships with them. Carol Linebaugh I don t think we can ever spend too much time with our grandchildren. We have as many get-togethers as we possibly can (such as family reunions, birthdays, holidays etc.). Grandma s house is where cousins become friends. -Pam Cluff My mother-in-law invites all of her grandchildren over on Thursdays for Grandma Day. Just the kids are invited, so it s a great time for us mothers to do visiting teaching, Church assignments, go to the temple, take care of doctor s appointments and run errands. It s wonderful for us and the kids! She keeps things simple; the kids play outside, color with sidewalk chalk, play in the sand pile or play inside with the toys. They always have lunch. Thursday is my kids' favorite day of the week, because they get to be with Grandma and their cousins. Jackie Chesnut I love to have my grandkids over and they come often. I don t plan any extravagant activities or fancy things for them to do. They just do whatever I m doing, like cleaning house, baking or working in the yard. I keep it simple and they love it. I think the hose and the sand pile are a grandma s best friends! Karen Smart 2. Help them love the scriptures. We give scriptures to our grandchildren when they are baptized with our testimony inside. Claudia Johnson When I m at my grandchildren s home, I usual pick up the Friend magazine and read stories to them. They love it when I read to them. Jolene Monson Sometimes when I m talking with my youngest grandchildren I ask Do you know any scripture stories? This simple question always opens the door for a great discussion about the scriptures. Carol Linebaugh

2 I give my grandchildren an inexpensive Book of Mormon when they are baptized. In it I mark favorite scriptures of family members with their names by the scripture. Sometimes I let my newly baptized grandchild help mark the scriptures. Karen Smart I remember seeing my mother reading the scriptures early every morning. Watching her made a great impression on me. My baby is due soon and I hope to set the same example for her. I hope she will learn to love and read the scriptures from watching me and from my mother s example. Katherine Pratt We buy the church scripture readers, and scripture stories on CD s and DVD s for our grandkids. When they are baptized, I give my grandchildren an inexpensive Book of Mormon. In it I mark favorite scriptures of people in our family with their names by the scripture. Sometimes I let my newly-baptized grandchild help mark the scriptures." Karen Smart Our grandchildren are very young, so we have favorite scripture stories instead of favorite scriptures." -Janet Keller 3. Be there for important church events. Even though they live in a different state than most of their children, my husband s parents come to every baptism, baby blessing and priesthood ordination that they possibly can. We know this is a great sacrifice for them, but our children can see how important these events are to their grandparents. It is a great blessing to our family and we cherish these visits. Lori Cluff Two-thirds of our grandchildren live out of state and we don t see them often. So far, we have been able to attend everyone s baptism, and where feasible, we attend recitals, games, and ordinations. We just want them to know that they are important to us. LaPriel Watson My husband, his father and brother always attend the priesthood session of General Conference together. They go to dinner together afterwards. Our son is looking forward to the day that he can attend this special meeting with his father, grandfather and uncle. Jackie Chesnut My mom and dad came to Alaska for the baptism of our son Braxton. It meant a lot to us that they would come for that special event in his life. Heather Bowen 4. Help them love church hymns and music. My grandmother memorized most of the hymns in the hymnbook and encouraged her children to do the same. She felt that the words to the hymns were like scripture and that they were a blessing during times of adversity. As a result, the hymns are a comfort and strength to our family. -Ashley Wood

3 Our family loves music and we enjoy gathering spontaneously around the piano to sing hymns together. These are always memorable times for us. --Rosemary Lind We have our very own Primary song, just each grandchild and me. It is our very own special song and everyone else knows that it belongs to us. Janet Keller My friend buys her grandchildren LDS music to play on the piano or CDs of Church music for them to listen to. She thinks it inspires them and lifts their spirits. Anne Bowen 5. Lend a listening ear. I have found that actual one-on-one time is more important than gift giving. If you can become a confidante to your grandchildren, it will be easier to confer Grandma values at opportune moments. I am trying to focus on more one-on-one time, including the get-toknow-you-better talk time and the get-down-on-the-floor-and play-with-you time. Robin Carroll I like to invite my grandkids to sleep over at our house. When other adults aren t present, kids really open up and talk about everything. It s a great way to find out what is important or worrisome to your grandchildren. Karen Smart When I was a teenager, my grandma would invite me over to do housework for her. When I was through, we would sit at the kitchen table and she would feed me cookies and milk. We would have heart-to-heart chats. She was a great listener and I felt like I could talk to her about anything. I m now a mom with kids of my own and she still is my friend and confidante Ashley Wood I love this recent quote from Elder M. Russell Ballard: Remember, conversation where you do 90 percent of the talking is not a conversation. Carol Linebaugh (2) 6. Have gospel discussions & bear your testimony to your grandchildren. When you get small grandchildren in the car alone, they love to talk! My grandson always tells me about movies and cartoon superheroes that he loves. He gets so excited about these things. One day I asked him, Jack, what do you know about Jesus? This turned the conversation in a different direction! He was just as excited to tell me what he knew about Jesus. It warmed my heart. Now when we are together, we talk about Jesus and I tell him stories about scripture heroes. He loves hearing them. Carol Linebaugh We have the tradition of meeting once a month on Sunday night with all the kids and grandkids that are in the area. It is like an extended family home evening. My husband takes charge and teaches the lesson. We feel that as patriarch, he needs to teach some principle that is important at that particular time. He also gives blessings to family members when appropriate. After a short lesson for the grandkids, they can leave to play in the basement while the parents have a longer lesson. The parents all participate and some really nice gospel discussions have taken place. It has been a blessing for all of us. - Pam Cluff

4 My mother made a blanket for my son when he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church. She explained that the Holy Ghost (just like the blanket) will surround us with love and comfort whenever we need it, if we will live worthy to receive him into our life. That is one reason he is called the comforter. I think this object lesson has really helped him to understand how the Holy Ghost works in our lives. He loves the blanket she made for him and still remembers the lesson about the Holy Ghost that she taught him. Heather Bowen I recently taught a Relief Society lesson on a talk by Elder M. Russell Ballard. The following quote really made an impression on me: Dare to have the 'big' talks with your [grandchildren]. You know what I mean: talks about drugs and drinking, about the dangers of today s media the Internet, cyber technologies, and pornography and about priesthood worthiness, respect for girls, and moral cleanliness. While these should not be the only subjects you talk about..., please don t shy away from them. Your [grandchildren] need your counsel, guidance, and input on these subjects. As you talk about these very important matters, you will find that the trust between you will flourish. Carol Linebaugh (2) 7. Pray with them. We invite our children and grandchildren for Sunday dinner every week. Before they leave later that night, we have family prayer together. Rosemary Lind We try to have family prayer and scriptures with grandkids when they sleep over for the night. We also tell them faith-promoting stories. We want our grandkids to know that we believe prayers are answered. Anne Bowen I love to hear my mother pray at family gatherings. She always asks Heavenly Father to help our family members see each other as He sees us. She asks Him to help us overlook each other s faults and imperfections and to help us love each other. Through the years she has voiced this desire both in prayer and in conversations with family members. I have seen her prayers answered over and over again. I feel that this is one of the reasons we have a strong loving extended family. Jan Robinson 8. Live what you believe. I feel that setting a good example is one of the best things I can do to build faith in my grandchildren. Children idolize their grandparents and watch them carefully. When my grandkids ask why we do things a little differently on Sunday, I can explain why we keep the Sabbath day holy. When they ask what I m reading, I can show them the scriptures or Ensign and bear my testimony about how it changes my life when I study the gospel. Jolene Monson We choose a theme for our family to live by each year. Some of the sayings we ve used include: Meaningful Memories, You Cannot Do It Alone, and The Faith to Slay Goliath.

5 We try to carry out and support our theme in everything we do during the year (family reunions, Family Home Evenings, family parties, gift giving, etc.). We all work together at putting this idea into practice in our lives. It makes a big difference when we have a common goal and all work together to achieve it. Jan Robinson 9. Teach them to serve. As a family, we have spring and fall cleanup day at grandma s house. Everyone is invited to come and help get the yard cleaned up. Even the younger grandchildren can work. We enjoy being together with the family while serving our grandmother. We have pizza afterwards and sit around and visit. We look forward to these wonderful times together and our children are learning to work and serve. Lori Cluff I involve my grandchildren in an ongoing project of making dolls for the humanitarian center in Salt Lake City. There is always something for them to do when they come to visit and they love to help. I also have a friend who gets her grandkids together once a year to make quilts to donate. Serving together is fun! Claudia Johnson My grandma is always serving, whether it is playing the organ and piano to accompany people or making humanitarian items such as quilts, blankets and baby clothes. She is always involved helping others. I hope to be able to serve as she has. Katherine Pratt 10. Show love and affection I hug my grandchildren, even my older ones! All grandchildren are different and I try to respect their feelings. I just say You probably don t love grandma hugs, but I m giving you one anyway! I don t over do it, but I feel like it keeps us close. Carol Linebaugh Bibliography: 1. Interviews with parents & grandparents: Claudia Johnson, Karen Smart, Cheryl Edwards, Rosemary Lind, Jackie Chesnut, Lori Cluff, Heather Bowen, Ashley Wood, Angie Mazeika, Pam Cluff, Vickie Wood, Janet Healey, Susan Schumacher, Janet Keller, LaPriel Watson, Zonda Perry, Robin Carroll, Jan Robinson, Jolene Monson, Katherine Pratt, Carol Linebaugh 2. Fathers and Sons: A Remarkable Relationship, Ensign, Nov 2009,