The first line of this lesson reads, “To prepare to be a righteous wife and mother, young women should focus on the Savior and on developing Christlike attributes,” so that’s what I decided to focus the lesson on.
Advanced preparation:
1. Print out each of the following phrases so that each one takes up an entire sheet of paper (most will use a 96-point font; the longer ones a 72-point font):
LEARN TO DO LAUNDRY
LEARN TO CLEAN HOUSE
LEARN TO DO LAWN CARE
LEARN TO GARDEN
LEARN TO COOK
LEARN TO DECORATE
LEARN ABOUT CHILD DEVELOPMENT
LEARN GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS
LEARN BASIC FIRST AID
LEARN ABOUT INFANT CARE
LEARN ABOUT CHILD DISCIPLINE
BE ABLE TO EARN MONEY
LEARN ABOUT GOOD NUTRITION
LEARN BASIC HOME REPAIR
LEARN TO SCOWL
LEARN BASIC CAR REPAIR
BE PHYSICALLY FIT
BE WELL-EDUCATED
LEARN TO INFLICT GUILT
LEARN TO MANAGE MONEY
LEARN TO BE A GOOD SHOPPER
LEARN TO SEW
LEARN HOW TO GET ALONG WITH OTHERS
2. Print out each of the following phrases so that each one takes up an entire sheet of paper (use a 96-point font) on colored paper:
PREPARING TO BE A PARENT
DEVELOP CHRIST-LIKE ATTRIBUTES
PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING
3. Print out one copy of the following for each girl (note: someone way more talented than I made this graphic; she gave me permission to post it):
4. Bring pieces of paper cut in half and markers to class.
Lesson:
1. Arrange the chairs in a horse-shoe shape. Place the paper with “Preparing to Be a Parent” on it in the middle of the room. Put all of the other pages (except the other colored ones) on the floor around it. Going around the room, ask each girl to remove the paper that is least important in preparing to be a parent. You might want to discuss the items as they are removed, pointing out that each one (except the scowling and guilt!) has its place and can be beneficial. When all of the papers are gone, place the paper with “Develop Christ-Like Attributes” on the floor. Explain that this is the most important thing that you can do to prepare to become a parent. It’s also the only one that you really need to do in advance: you can use Pinterest or Youtube in a pinch if you find you don’t know how to launder a silk shirt, but you can’t google Christ-like attributes and develop them in five seconds.
2. Give each girl two blank pieces of paper and a marker. Ask her to search the scriptures and think about her favorite stories about Jesus and then write one attribute of Jesus on each piece of paper. (If you have several adult leaders in the room, hand each of them a piece of paper which says: “Please write down some challenges that you or others you know have faced as a parent. These will be shared with the girls.”) When they finish, collect the papers. Place the papers with the attributes of Jesus on the floor and discuss how they can help parents. Share some of the challenges that the adults leaders listed (if you did that part of the lesson); discuss if/how Christ-like attributes would help address those challenges.
3. Stack the papers with the attributes of Jesus on them and place the paper which reads “Prepared for Everything” on top of it. Explain that developing those attributes will not only prepare them to be a parent, but will prepare them for everything that they will face in life.
4. Hand out the quote from President Kapp. Explain that she was the 9th General Young Women President and she led the development of the motto, theme, Personal Progress, and values (more about her here). Also explain that she was infertile; she did not raise children. Read the quotation. Explain that despite their desires, the girls may or may not have a chance to be a parent. And if they are parents, they will have other missions in life as well. Challenge them to take some time this week to ask prayerfully what they can do to prepare for their unique missions. If you have several adult leaders in the room, have them discuss aspects of their mission in life in addition to (or, instead of) being a parent.
5. Bear testimony of the important role of parenthood, the importance of discerning one’s mission in life and preparing for it, and that their Heavenly Parents love them individually and have a unique plan for each of them.
Intriguing. Have you taught this lesson, Julie, and if so, how did it go?
Hunter, I will this week. (I always debate whether it is better to post lessons after giving them, so I have a better sense of how they [don’t] work, or before, so they are of more use to people who are on the same teaching schedule.)
This is fantastic!
Bam! Excellent.
I read the title of the post and groaned. His is a fantastic lesson! Way to go. Hope my girl has a young women’s leader with such great inspiration.
This is a gem. I’m filing this for the next time I get called into YW.
Julie, My daughter just moved to your area with her four kids. (None of them are YW yet) but I hope she’s in your Ward or Stake.
Brilliant.
I will try this with the YM on friday and let you know.
That quote from President Kapp would have been helpful soo many times in my life. Those YW have no idea how cool of a lesson this is.
Let us know how it goes
I was a young woman during Sister Kapps leadership and the idea of following the Lord’s personal mission for you was everywhere in our lives. We weren’t encouraged to be cookie cutter girls, but girls seeking divinities hand in mapping out our future. As the years have gone on that message got lost. It makes me sad to see it’s loss. I am so glad you found that quote because I am going to spread it far and wide. Young Women, Middle aged Women, Single Women, Old Women need this desperately. Thanks Julie.
Excellent!
As a childless woman I think it is super important to also teach the girls that being a mother is not a given and homemaking skills are good for life in general. If I had had one leader say to me in YW that childlessness and infertility were real life problems and that my divine worth isn’t determined by my ability to have children it would have saved me A LOT of heartache. it’s so important to teach these young girls that being a mother is divine and amazing but so is being a righteous daughter of God.
Love this! Thank you for posting your ideas! I’m so glad I found this post while preparing my lesson! I’m going to use this, this month for one of my lessons! I also made one of your quotes into a handout… “you can’t google christ-like attributes and develop them in five seconds.” Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful lesson!
So I’m returning and reporting: I felt like it went well. I felt impressed to spend a little more time than the outline indicates talking about how important good parents are. I said that no one walks into a house and thinks, “Wow, the electricity in here is really great!” It’s only when the power goes out that we think about the electricity! I spoke about the (brief) time when we were foster parents and shared with the girls some examples of behaviors I saw in the children that resulted from them not being adequately parented–the point being that those of us surrounded by good examples of parenting tend not to appreciate its importance. But it really, really matters.
I was pleased that the lesson had every single girl participating (eliminating the least important way to prepare and then sharing a trait of Jesus’ and how it could help parents).
It went will with the YM as well in my ward. I changed the word “mother” in the Ardeth Kapp quote to “Parent” but ran it the same, sans handouts. We had good participation from the boys and the boys had some good pulls for scriptures.
I was asked to teach a youth Sunday School class minutes before class time. It was ward conference and all the stake visitors came to our class. I remembered reading this lesson yesterday and gave the whole thing (minus the prepared visual aids). It was perfect! Julie, you are so much more in touch with the youth than the manual writers.
One of the impressive things about Sister Kapp was that although she was infertile, she was a young wife in an era before abortion was legal in the US and indeed had family members who had become parents through adoption. So adoption was a more ready alternative for her than it is for some folks today.
But when they prayed about adopting, they felt strongly that for whatever reason, the Lord directed that they should not become parents.
They faced a lot of social pressure to adopt, and her husband was criticized for his performance as a bishop by people who thought he could not understand the realities of raising a family. So they paid a price for the confidence of her awesome statement.
Thanks for posting this, Julie. Excellent stuff!
Wow. Such a great lesson. Thanks for sharing.
Julie, this ended up being the last lesson I ever gave before being released. I thank you for it.