Family Proclamation Blog Hop: FHE & When Our Children Teach Us

Over the years, we've tried to have Family Home Evenings that taught our children the doctrine of the family.  We've used various resources, such as the FHE manual, lots of visuals from the Gospel Art Book, primary-oriented clip art (we've used the Primary Partners books put out by Mary Ross & Jennette Guymon King to supplement our own lessons quite frequently), and the scriptures.

One of our most favorite FHE resources is the Preach My Gospel manual put out by the church.  Because, really, who better to use a missionary tool with than the little investigators living right in our very own homes?  It does a great job of distilling precious doctrines clearly and succinctly, which is great if you are trying to teach a complex truth to a young child.  Our lessons tend to be simple and short, to meet the attention spans of our young children.  We also try to keep the focus on the message so they (hopefully) remember what we were trying to teach.

But I must admit, most of the time I feel that my children are daily teaching me so much more than I could ever hope to teach them, even with my best FHE intentions.  Some of these experiences I've written about, such as this one with Taylor, and some have gone by without documentation.  But needless to say, I am overwhelmed by the number of times my kids have stopped me cold in my tracks with their words and actions.

The past week presented one such example.

At the end of one of the main halls in our home hangs a large canvas print of a photograph I took of our children a few months after Dani and Logan were born.  (Coincidentally, a framed copy of the Proclamation on the Family hangs right next to it!)  Because it is located in a prominent location in the home, all of our family members pass it multiple times in a day.  In fact, in the process of getting all of our daily chores done, many of us often pass it by without even so much as a glance anymore.

But not Logan.

Sometime within the last couple of weeks, my little man has discovered the picture.  And even with his little 17-month-old mind, he understands that this picture has deep significance.  He does not-- and will not-- simply pass it by.  Each and every time he rounds the corner in the hall he stops and looks up.  He pauses.  And then with his finger he points.

At this juncture, his preference is to be picked up so he can get a closer look.  He studies the faces in the picture and points at each one, trying to say the names in his little babble.  After going through each of his siblings a couple of times, he is content to be lowered back down and carry on with whatever he may have been doing.

Because this happens multiple times a day, the rest of the children have keyed into what Logan is doing, and now no one is able to pass the picture without a pause and a recognition of what it stands for.

Our family is important.
Our family is central.
Our family is eternal.

Of all the lessons I've taught throughout the years, I'm fairly certain that Logan single-handedly trumped them all.

Looking at a simple photograph just may be the most effective FHE we've ever had.