Lisa C. and Emily B.

I love having good mom examples. There are so many. Lisa and Emily are two moms in my ward. They both have a mom mentality that I want.

Lisa:

Her 4-year-old son James had a talk for Primary. She worked with him to memorize it. He didn't want to, but she told him he needed to. "Why?", someone asked her. She said, "Because he has a really good memory. I knew he could do it." I happened to hear James' talk and it was powerful, some of it here:

"Jesus was born on earth and so was I...

Jesus loved to help people and I want to help people too...

Jesus shared the gospel and I want to share the gospel too...

Jesus died and so will I...

Jesus resurrected and so will I."

Emily:

Emily has set up a summer learning program with her 4-year-old daughter Grace. She started by asking,

"Grace, what do you want to learn next week?"

"I want to learn about butterflies!"

So Emily researches butterflies. She looks up butterfly picture books on the library website, checks some out and fits them into a week-long curriculum. She researches more on the Internet. She might make a powerpoint. She finds pictures, she thinks of activities.

Then each day there is time when Grace learns about butterflies. On Friday she gets quizzed and has some sort of culminating activity like going to the butterfly exhibit at the Strong Museum of Play. Then on Friday Emily asks what Grace wants to learn about for the next week.

"Bridges!"

"The Eiffel Tower!"

What a fun summer.

I want to be like these moms. I want to expect a lot out of my kids, in good ways. I also want to put a lot into teaching; whether it's about the Eiffel Tower or the Holy Temple. There's a lot to learn in the world. Why not learn at home? Why not give them confidence to learn young? Why not make it fun? I have great examples. I hope to live up to them.