Talks in Church
I had two of my kids give talks in church this Sunday. Andy spoke for the first time is Sacrament Meeting and gave a good talk on how to be a good friend and how to make friends. When he was asked the give the talk, the first counselor in the bishopric told him he could talk about families or, he could do something from the Duty to God book. We chose the Duty to God book so that he could check off two, count them, two requirements at once. He chose to do requirement #1 under the Citizenship section of the Deacon’s DTG book. This requirement states, “Explain to a parent or leader how to be a friend; maintain friendship; resolve conflicts between friends.” We helped him find some good quotes from church leaders and he put the pieces together and added his own commentary. You could tell he was nervous but he did a great job. I was concerned that he would just get up there and read the whole thing but he looked up quite a bit while giving the talk.
My Dad always said that when giving a talk, you need to “Speak Loudly and Distinctly”. I don’t know where he got this phrase, but I use it with my kids as well. They are probably just as sick of hearing it from me as I was hearing it from my Dad, but it stuck in my brain and it is good advise.
My Daughter gave a talk in Primary. My wife helped her put together a short talk about the Proclamation on the Family. She talked about how she liked it when we had family home evenings. One of her favorite FHE’s is when we paint our windows for Halloween. I think I posted something about us painting the windows last year. If I find it, I’ll post the Link Here.
Both my Daughter and Son did a great job speaking. I’m proud of both of them. I love the fact that the Church encourages our youth to learn how to speak in public. I know that it helps their confidence and prepares them for speaking assignments when they are older.
Where did you get your blog layout from? I’d like to get one like it for my blog.
Whoa@!!! Is this the right site? It looks so fancy.
Meg spoke in primary too. I let her read since reading is such a big deal in 1st grade. It went slowly though.
I like that the church encourages the kids to feel comfortable in public speaking.
I totally remember all of dad’s talk advice too. He didn’t want us to read it, we had to be sure to look up, speak up, and to always end the talk with a challenge.
Not only is it good practice to speak in public but it is good for them to share their testimony about the topic. It makes them feel confident in that area of the gospel and to really think about how they feel and what they believe. Great strength in that.