Nephi's Bow
by Nancy
 

For a lesson on attitude, try reading from the Book of Mormon the story of Nephi, who broke his bow, and share, as a family, your comments on the different reactions of Nephi and his bothers Laman and Lemuel ... Who among them helped in keeping the family united through hard times? At the end of the lesson give each family member a small frame showing a picture of Nephi on one side and his murmuring brothers on the other and challenge the family to think about their behavior for the next month, each evening, and turn the frame on the kind of person they had been during the day and keep it in sight for the next day. It helps them to concentrate on the big difference they can make in family matters, even with small actions.
 

When facing life's difficulties, I like to remember the saying, "Have you GROWN or did you GROAN??"
 

Last week we did a lesson on choices. My daughters are 11, 13 and 14. I took a large poster board and glued various pictures on it, such as the temple, college, sacrament, good report card, a wedding, children, etc. I put another piece of poster board over it, and made little door out of it, sot that when you open each of the doors, you see one of the pictures. When I started, I had all of the doors open and we discussed the various goals they had for temple marriage, attending college, having a family, etc. Then we talked about the things that might get in the way of those goals. For example, what could close the door to being able to partake of the sacrament, or get good grades (which may also close the doors to others things on the poster, like college or temple or mission)? We had a wonderful discussion and the children were able to see more clearly that the choices they make today can have significant and long-term consequences. We also discussed how they can keep all of those doors open by making right choices.