Family Home Evening Simplified
Mar 16th, 2008 by Bethany
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I think the secret to a successful Family Home Evening (especially with little ones) is to prepare a lot, and then be flexible! When you see a FHE plan on my site I’ve often got a lot of things to talk about during the lesson and sometimes elaborate dessert ideas. There’s almost always more stuff to do than I even consider actually doing. A normal lesson for us actually lasts between 45 seconds and 5 minutes. The idea is to have plenty to do, lots of variety in case one or more of the kids isn’t interested in one or more part of the lesson–then I move on to the next quickly.
For example, last week we had a little tour of the house as we talked about taking care of our bodies and the kids were really tired. So, I only said a couple of sentences in each spot and skipped any activity the kids weren’t immediately fascinated with. I’d expected them to want to wash their hands for a half an hour (like they usually do), but both of them screamed when I turned on the water, so we just moved on with no hand washing or teeth brushing.
Many weeks we put the kids to bed before we have our refreshments because they’re just too tired to enjoy them, so I give them treats in the morning or for a snack sometime the next day. Or, we just skip them. Hmmmm…there’s kind of a theme of “they were too tired to…” in this post. I wonder if we should have FHE earlier. 
I just wanted to make clear that I consider a Family Home Evening successful if we’re prepared, we have a song, prayer, and any kind of gospel-related lesson. It doesn’t even have to be the lesson we prepared. If we have fun it’s a huge plus. If we have an activity and refreshments besides, we’re gold. But it doesn’t have to be a huge production, and it doesn’t have to go according to plan. Enjoy the family time and feel good about having prepared even if you don’t do what you prepared as you prepared it!
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Yes, I agree maybe i should start FHE sooner,too!! I have 2 teens left at home and we still run out of time for a “goodie” because of homework and showers! I do have a plan and just as when they were 3 or 4, I DO stay flexible. You learn that when they are 1!! Teens are just as hard because they always want to have The “FUN” more than the spiritual meat of the lesson!LOL!
I find if I assign ahead of time and the kids feel that they can contribute, rrather than just a lecture (as in school) they listen better and they are more willing to look up scripture and add their own comments. We gety into some very good conversation and they don’t even feel it is “formal”. At least once a month i mix it up with a short LDS film or a John Bytheway video. I also find obscure non-denominational films that still teach the basics of the Gospel. My kids loved the movie “Flywheel” that was made by a baptist minister in Georgia(very low budget)but excellent message of telling the truth and being a person of integrity. My teens loved it…it reminded them of “Baptists at our BBQ”(another one we watch for FHE when it is time to have family fun time!
Thanks for such a great blog! I plan on using it and finding new ideas!