My four-year-old was assigned her first talk this past Sunday in Primary. I was told that it could be anywhere from 5 seconds in length to 10 minutes. That’s a big gap huh? But, I guess for the sunbeams, you never know what to expect! Her topic was, “The mission of the church is to invite all to come unto Christ” That’s a big topic for such a little person.
How do you write talks with your primary-aged child? This can be a little daunting. Do you write it for them? Do you let them write it? What’s the protocol? Well, seeing as this is my first child in primary, and I didn’t give it much thought before, we kind of did a little of both. We started by trying to get her idea of what the topic meant. She knew what the word invite meant, and she knows who Jesus Christ is, so that was a start! When we asked her what a mission was, she said she didn’t know. So, that’s where we started. We explained to her what a mission was in the general meaning of the word.
Next we talked to her about missionaries. We asked her what she thought missionaries did. She replied, “They walk around and talk to people in sign language”. Pretty good. So, we incorporated those two things into her talk. We talked to her about how they also talk to people about Christ and invite them to be baptized. She got it.
Then, we talked to her about how she could be a missionary. She had some good ideas. There was something in there about taking care of cats and dogs that we didn’t quite understand, but we were able to help her think of good ways that she could be a missionary at her age.
All in all, we had a good little talk all set up for her. Here is what it said:
The mission of the church is to invite all to Come Unto Christ.
Missionaries go on missions.
They walk around and talk to people. Sometimes they talk to people in sign
language. They teach people about Jesus and invite them to get baptized. Then they
go home to their families.
Jesus taught us all these things.
I can be a missionary too.
I can invite friends to church.
I can teach others about what is right.
I can be kind to others and be an example to my friends.
She did such an amazing job! I had to get up there and help her, but they loved it so much, they asked her if she wanted to give it again in Sacrament meeting, which she did. Since we went over it several times with her, she was able to think of some of the lines herself with little prompting, but others, she had to repeat. It was a fun memory to see her giving her very first talk, and hopefully it will be one of many to come!
Related Articles:
Activity Days-Articles of Faith Games
October 2010 General Conference-My Favorite Talk