Purpose: To celebrate our dads and spend time together in love for him.
**Special note: we understand and appreciate that not all families are the same! God loves all families that are trying their best. We have spent our own time as “not the typical family,” and want you to know we love and support you! If you don’t want to do this lesson, feel free to pick another one! You know what you need! **
Possible scriptures: ask your dad what his favorite scripture is!
Possible Songs: Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth, Hymn 298; Love at Home, Hymn 294 or 318; Love One Another, Hymn 308, Children’s Songbook page 136; Families Can Be Together Forever, Children’s Songbook page 188; Daddy’s Homecoming, Children’s Songbook page 210; Fathers, Children’s Songbook page 209; A Happy Family, Children’s Songbook page 198a; Quickly I’ll Obey, Children’s Songbook page 197b; When We’re Helping, 198b; My Dad, Children’s Songbook page 211; Love is Spoken Here, Children’s Songbook page 190; The Dearest Names, Children’s Songbook page 208
Possible Materials: Superdaddy rockets; Figures of Nephi and his family; A picture of George Washington.
Preparation: If you are the father and it is your time to teach, watch this video, and reflect on fatherhood and the things discussed in the video, then tell your wife or oldest child that they get to teach instead! Begin with prayer. If you are the son, watch this video (Daughters, watch this one) and contemplate how your relationship with your father is going. Does it need some work? Read the suggested scriptures, including. Read through the lesson, including any links, and carefully select the most relevant material for your family. Children: Watch the videos of Nephi and George Washington as a boy. Older family members might also enjoy learning about Joseph Fielding Smith and Joseph F. Smith. Then ask a grownup to help you get the Superdaddy rockets ready.
Lesson:
Discuss how last week’s challenge went.
Introduction: Tell your family that Father’s Day is coming up. To help us get ready for Father’s Day, lets play a game and learn more about him! Hand each family member a “Superdaddy Rocket.” If they are younger, have them pre-assembled. Older family members can make them themselves. Then hand everyone a straw and go to a place that is open enough for papers to be flying around. Show your family members how to put their straws into the rocket pockets and then how to blow on the bottom of the straw and shoot it. The person that shot their straw the furthest gets to ask Daddy a question! Some questions could be what his favorite color or food is, if he has a favorite story from the scriptures or his mission or history, and what he wanted to be when he grew up. The list is endless. Make sure everyone has fun and has a turn to ask Dad a question. When you are done with the rockets, ask your family how we can show respect for our fathers.
From the Scriptures: Hold up the figures of Nephi’s family. Ask your family who the figures are. What does the family know about them? Hold up the figure of Lehi. Tell your family that Lehi was a righteous man, he was a prophet. Heavenly Father gave him lots of instructions and Lehi obeyed. Lehi had 4 sons while he lived in Jerusalem and Heavenly Father told him to take his family and leave. 2 sons, named Laman and Lemuel, did not want to obey! They complained and argued. 1 son, named Nephi, wanted to do everything Heavenly Father told his father to do. He trusted his father to know what was right, and he asked Heavenly Father to know things for himself. He told Sam (the other brother) how he felt and what he learned, and Sam obeyed his father, as well. How do you think Lehi felt about his sons’ choices? We show our fathers respect when we do what they ask without complaining.
From World History: Hold up a picture of George Washington. Ask your family if they know who it is. Tell your family that there is a story about George Washington as a boy that we often tell to talk about telling the truth. It wasn’t a true story, but has become a legend (which means an old story we tell over and over again). The story says that when George Washington was a boy, he got a hatchet for a present and he was so excited to play with it and chop with it. His dad had a favorite tree. A Cherry tree! one day, George Washington was playing with his hatchet and he was not paying attention to what he was doing, and he was chopping things without thinking about it, and he chopped down his dad’s favorite tree! George’s dad was very sad! He asked everyone what had happened to his tree. George said, “I cannot tell a lie! I chopped it down.” His dad was sad about losing his tree, but he told George that he would have been even sadder if George had not told the truth. We can show respect to our fathers by telling them the truth, even if it is hard or we are afraid we will get into trouble.
From Church History: Now hold up a picture of Joseph Fielding Smith. Tell your family that Joseph Fielding Smith was the son of Joseph F. Smith, who was the son of Hyrum Smith (the brother of Joseph Smith). There would be a lot of pressure to be the son of a prophet! But Joseph Fielding Smith wanted to do all he could to be a good person. Have someone read the following from Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith:
When his father sent him a few dollars for necessities, he replied: “I shall be very careful of the means you send me. I do not spend anything unless I have a good reason for it.” He also told his father of his determination to learn and teach the gospel: “I am here to preach the gospel and I hope I will be able to do that well. … It is my desire to improve my mind and talents while I am here, that I may always be useful for something in life. … I want to be right on all things and nothing gives me more pleasure than to learn something about the gospel. My desire is to become acquainted with it and gain wisdom.”
The Life And Ministry of Joseph Fielding Smith, from Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith
President Joseph F. Smith wrote the following words of commendation in a letter to Elder Joseph Fielding Smith: “I like your spirit, I have faith in your integrity, and I have pleasure and satisfaction in you. I want you to cultivate wisdom and deliberate judgment and patience as well as the Holy Spirit and the love of God.”
One way we can show respect to our fathers is to live a life in which they are proud of us; A life that we utilize the principles that they have tried to instill on us. Joseph Fielding Smith did that from his mission all the way through to the death of his father, where he acted as a secretary for his father on many occasions.
Further Discussion:
What are some attributes you see in your father that you hope to cultivate? Is there a skill that he has that you would like to develop? Talk about these ideas with him and talk about what it will take to grow them.
Recent Conference talks to consider in your discussion: Click here for talks on fatherhood.
Challenge:
Make a special effort this week to do the things your father asks without complaining. Pay attention to his needs when he gets home and try to meet them. See if your relationship improves, and be prepared to report back to the family.
Giving due credit: as usual, I read and learned from the Sunbeams Manual Lesson 23 (Nursery Manual lesson 11), Gospel Principles Chapter 37, and the Family Home Evening Resource Manual Lesson 17 and lesson 21 (though I kinda hated both of them… they’re way too preachy for me and reminded me of why I hated FHE as a kid).
