Have you considered having your children plan family home evening? This is a great way to have your children become involved in family home evening. Teaching a principle usually helps people to grasp the concept more strongly, and this can be an added benefit for your family. It may create a little more work for you in the beginning, but the benefits will pay off in the long run.
You can start by setting up a rotation schedule for your family. This can be done by creating a chart. You can include someone to conduct, someone to share a scripture or spiritual thought, someone to lead the singing and someone to prepare the refreshments. You can easily come up with enough positions so that every family member has a job for the evening.
You and your spouse can still decide on the topics that you want to have covered each week. If you have children in the youth programs, they may have specific topics that they need to teach on in order to pass off goals. You can schedule your lessons out through one family rotation, through six months or through the year. This will help the children preparing the lesson have extra time to prepare their topics.
You should provide resources for your children to use while preparing the lessons. These can include family home evening manuals, Church magazines, conference talks and the scriptures. You should also make yourself available to help if needed. If you have younger children you may want to walk them through the preparation process until they are capable of doing it on their own.
When you have your children teach, be sure that they have the floor. You do not need to take over the lesson or direct the way that you feel it should go. This is their time. If you feel that they have strayed from gospel doctrine you can offer gentle correction, but other than that let them do the teaching. You may be surprised at what your children can teach you.
It is also important to be consistent at following the schedule and holding family home evening regularly. There are many blessings that are associated with family home evening, and every family can benefit from those blessings. Your children will respond better if you are consistent in your expectations of the night.
Related Articles:
Prophetic Promises of Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening: Using Sharing Time Themes
Jumpstarting Family Home Evening