Work & Responsibilty: Lesson Ideas

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Heavenly Father wants me to work.(Sr)

2 Thessalonians 3:7–13

Invite the children to take turns reading verses from 2 Thessalonians 3:7–13 and look for the problem the Saints were facing. Why does Heavenly Father want us to work? What would happen if we never learned to work hard? Let the children take turns acting out simple chores while the other children guess what they are doing. (Come, Follow Me—For Primary: New Testament 2023 “1 and 2 Thessalonians” )

Friend July 2016 Picking thorny blackberries was not fun, but a boy learned about responsibility and the rewards of work.

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Invite the children to talk about a time when they worked hard on a task, a project, or a goal. How did they feel about themselves when they finished? What does it mean to “be not weary in well doing”? (2 Thessalonians 3:13). What helps us keep going when work feels hard? (Come, Follow Me—For Primary: New Testament 2023 “1 and 2 Thessalonians” )

Draw attention to skills and talents each individual in the family has worked to develop in the past few months, or year. (Mention skills such as tying shoes, making the bed, reading, playing an instrument, or cooking.) Ask each person how he felt when he accomplished that skill or developed that talent. Discuss how these new skills improve the individual, the family, and the community.

Discuss as a family the good feeling that can come while working to accomplish a chore or a job and the satisfaction that comes when that job is completed. Point out that this satisfaction is part of the reward.

I Can Labor With All My Might and Not be Idle

Doctrine and Covenants 75:3

Come, Follow Me—For Primary: Doctrine and Covenants 2021 “Doctrine and Covenants 71–75”

  • Invite each child to take a turn acting out how they would do a chore, such as cleaning their room or washing dishes at home. Read Doctrine and Covenants 75:3, and ask the children to show how they would do it lazily when you say “neither be idle” and show how to work hard when you say “but labor with your might.” Why is it important that we do our best?
  • Share with the children President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s stories about work from “Two Principles for Any Economy” (Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2009, 55–58). How do we feel when we know we have done our best?

Friend July 2016 Picking thorny blackberries was not fun, but a boy learned about responsibility and the rewards of work.

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Friend October 2023 “Go Forward and Harvest On!” Elder Hugo Montoya tells of harvesting grapes with his family as a child. Each time they took grapes to their father, he would say, “Go forward and harvest on.” When we work hard and follow what God asks us to do, we can find joy in life.

Friend October 2023 “It’s Harvest Time” When Elder Montoya was young, he helped his family harvest grapes. Circle what is different between the two pictures!

Working for Something Helps You Appreciate It More

Working Brings Personal Satisfaction

Friend October 2023 “Margo and Paolo” Paulo broke his easel. He works to earn money to buy a new one. He said,”It feels good to work hard for something important to me!”

Keeping House Clean

Friend September 2022 “For Older Kids” Practice keeping things clean

Friend June 2021 “Scripture Time Fun for Little Ones” Help your little ones say, “I can work hard!” Teach your children a household chore they can help with, like sweeping or putting away their toys.

Latter Day Kids “Labor with Your Might” Lesson ideas to go with the video

Friend March 2019 “For Older Kids” Feel rushed in the morning? Try laying out your clothes, shoes, and bag before you go to bed.

Friend July 2017 “Busy Like a Bee” Elder Ballard tells how bees work together to strengthen the hive.

Friend August 2016 ” For Parents of Little Ones” Letting children help around the house makes the children feel capable and valued as contributing family members.

Friend April 2021 “Scripture Time Fun for Little Ones”  Play a game or activity that involves taking turns, like stacking blocks to make a tower. Each time it’s your child’s turn, help them say, “We can work together.”

Friend May 2016  Ideas on how to help little ones be more willing to do chores.

Friend February 2016 “Happy Faces” Easton earns happy faces on a bedtime chart. Link includes chart. Parent Information 

Future Career

The Whoot

Ensign April 2020 “Teaching Children the Value of Work” Include children in creating a family work plan. In a family council, discuss the work that needs to be done to maintain the home and yard. Talk about how these duties can be shared among family members. Children will be more motivated to help if they are part of this process. Be mindful of children’s ages and capabilities, but give them opportunities to try hard things.

Find a fun way to track progress and reward their work. Have everyone place a cotton ball (or some other item) in a jar when a task is finished. When the jar is full, go on a family adventure. Or make a pizza chart and have each child color a slice when their work is done. When the chart is full, have a pizza party.


Work & Responsibility: Stories

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Friend March 2021 “Working Together” Caleb works hard with his mom cleaning out the weeds so they can plant a garden.

Friend August 1988 “Allie’s Choice” Allie shows she is responsible while her mother is away by taking care of work instead of going to a horse show and she is than allowed the responsibilty of boarding a horse.

Making Work Fun

Friend January 2022 “Songs and Soap Bubbles” Alice has a lot of responsibility helping with her five younger siblings. One of her chores is to do the dishes. She decides to make doing the dishes fun by learning hymns as she does them. The hymns help her feel peace in her busy, noisy life.

Friend October 2016 “Matt and Mandy” Matt and Mandy have a big chore of raking leaves, but they add some fun and surprise their parents.

Friend August 2019 “Matt and Mandy” Matt and Mandy decide to surprise their mom by cleaning their rooms the night before. It goes fast because they work together and the surprise is fun. They want to surprise her by doing other chores too.

Friend July 2016 Picking thorny blackberries was not fun, but a boy learned about responsibility and the rewards of work.

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Friend July 2016  “Ryan the Unstoppable Reader” Ryan has a reading disability and has to spend his summer working on his reading, but his hard work pays off and his reading level increases.

Friend April 1983– interview with Paul H Dunn. His father had him work for any spending money.

Friend May 1988 “Sweet Peas” Children grow vegetables in a garden to sell and make spending money.

Friend February 1987 “Blake’s Lucky Socks” Ethan studies hard to win a spelling bee. His friend, Ethan, doesn’t study but thinks he’ll win because he’s wearing his lucky socks.

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Friend May 2016 “The Laundry Monster” It’s time to help put laundry in a basket, but Ana wants to keep playing. Her guilt grows.

Friend February 2016 “Happy Faces” Easton earns happy faces on a bedtime chart. Link includes chart. Parent Information 

Friend June 1987 “Lipstick and Hot Chocolate” Tanya finds that baby-sitting to earn dance lessons is more difficult than expected, but she is responsible and fixes her mistakes.

Careers

Friend August 2016 “When I Grow Up” Rosemary starts her own business designing temple dresses. It takes discipline, study, and prayer to make it work.

Friend March 2019 “Becoming Dr. Cannon” Mattie Hughes was excited when she heard Brigham Young encouraging women to become doctors. She worked hard and saved her money so she could go to medical school. Eventually she became a doctor and helped many people.

Cooperation

Friend January 2018 “Matt and Mandy” Mandy and her friend both have to practice piano. They work together and it makes it fun. Then they both try to do their own thing and it turns out terrible.

Pet Care

Friend June 2018 “Stacie’s Puppy” Stacie takes care of her puppy.