Primary Calling Musings

[Vanguard]

My wife and I have been serving as Primary teachers (CTR5?) over the past better part of a year. She prepares the lesson (and does a wonderful job) and I serve as a bit of comic relief as well as reflect back out loud to her what I think the young kids might be thinking in the moment about whatever event or doctrine is being addressed. As an example, when we spoke about baptisms for the dead several months ago, I immediately interjected with a 'you mean, we get old people out of the ground after they died?!!! (said with a heavy dose of faux-incredulous tonality). It's a little bit of 'saying the quiet part out loud'. You can tell it hits a chord when all of their eyes become as round as pool balls waiting for my wife to clarify what the concept really is about. And it has been wonderful. These kiddos are the highlight of my Sunday. I can't believe how much I enjoy the calling more than any I have ever had.

Is anyone else in Primary? Any thoughts about what works well for you? I have more thoughts but I'll wait to see if the thread gets legs. ; )

[Kenngo1969]

As a single guy (and, therefore, a potential "dirty old man" ), I have never had the pleasure.  Fortunately, no parents take note of the fact that I take delight in the antics and high jinks of their little ones.  Is it OK if I admit that's one of my favorite parts of going to Church even if it doesn't involve attempting to impart deep doctrines to children on a level they can understand.  (For what it's worth, I have enjoyed my parents' stories of actually teaching little ones, as well.)

It sounds like a wonderful calling, and I'm sure the Lord has blessed you ... and will continue to do so.

Warm Regards and Best Wishes,

-Ken K. Gourdin

[MustardSeed]

Primary has been my favorite calling - and my least favorite.  Sharing time compares to watching paint dry for me, but the classroom time is incredible.

[InCognitus]

I haven't taught Primary for a long time, but a very memorable lesson for me was while serving as the assistant scout master and teaching the Deacons Quorum about 8 or 9 years ago or so.  At the time we were taking turns teaching the lesson each Sunday, and once a month we would ask one of the deacons to teach the lesson.  We asked the young men to pick a topic from the list of lessons for the month they were going to teach.  One 12 year old boy picked the topic from the Aaronic Priesthood Come Follow Me manual, "How can I find comfort when someone I care about dies?"   I thought to myself, "really"?  He picked THAT lesson as the one he wanted to teach?  That's a heavy duty topic for a 12 year old.

When he taught that lesson, he related personal experiences about the recent death of his uncle, and that young man had the Spirit with him.  He handled the topic with the wisdom of a 90 year old prophet.  I can't remember another lesson where I felt the Spirit stronger. 

The adviser and I later found out from the Stake leaders that we weren't supposed to be letting the youth teach the lessons (we were supposed to be teaching all of them).  But I'm glad we didn't find that out until after this young man had the opportunity to teach that lesson.  He's currently serving a full time mission.  I'm sure he's touching people's lives wherever he goes.

[Tacenda]

I've taught several ages in Primary and loved it, good memories, should have kept a journal of what kids do/say! 

[Rain]

I'm not thrilled about primary, but I am good at.  I liked the chorister position most because there was so much I could do with it creatively. 

The only other time I found I could like it was after primary became shorter and I was teaching with my husband.  If I have to teach again I only want to teach with him.  We switched back and forth each week who would teach.  We did "field" trips where we might go use a tree.  We did not walk quietly through the hallway directly to the classroom with arms folded, but reverantly took a circuitous route and picked out things we were grateful for, or looked a pictures of Jesus and talked about them, or pretended we were holding on to the iron rod - whatever went with the lesson.  

So while I am not fond of being in primary I do like to make the learning fun and interesting and children are much more amenable to that.  I just got called to teach gospel doctrine for the first time.  I don't plan on sitting in there with our arms folded reading our little pieces of paper.

[bluebell]

On 5/2/2022 at 8:00 PM, MustardSeed said:

Primary has been my favorite calling - and my least favorite.  Sharing time compares to watching paint dry for me, but the classroom time is incredible.

The only time that I ever cried over being asked to serve in a calling was when I was called to teach Sunbeams years ago.  If I was called again I would cry harder this time around.  

But I don't mind teaching the older primary age kids at all.  Once you can have a good discussion, then I usually find it enjoyable.

[manol]

Many years ago my "unofficial" Primary calling centered around a particular seven-year-old boy.  Let's call him Nephi, because he was exceedingly large and strong for his age.  Unfortunately Nephi was considered to be disruptive and aggressive.   My job was to prevent him from harming any of the other kids, and/or to take him outside and keep him out of trouble if he became disruptive.

Needless to say I kept a close eye on him in Primary, and what I observed was very interesting.  Nephi never once just went after another kid out of the blue, but he WOULD stick up for WHOEVER some other kid was picking on.  And that usually did not turn out well for the kid who was picking on someone else, because Nephi didn't understand how strong he was.  None of the teachers really had the time to monitor him as closely as I did, so none of them had picked up on the fact the he was always responding to an apparent injustice instead of being the initial instigator.

Did I mention this kid was strong?  One Sunday when we were hanging out outside - he had been kicked out of class and was in my "custody" - Nephi grabbed me around the legs and lifted me off the ground.  Not that I was all that big - maybe 150 pounds at the time - but still, not bad for a 7-year-old.  A member of the Stake Presidency who was much larger than me (about 230 pounds) happened by and we chatted a bit, and I mentioned that young Nephi had picked me up.  We kept on chatting, my attention drifting away from the my custodial duties, until Nephi had quietly wrapped both arms around the larger man's knees and proceeded to pick him up!  I can still see the shocked look on the big man's face as he was lifted off the ground, arms flailing!  I very seriously doubt I could have lifted him.

So that was my one and only, totally unofficial, Primary calling:  Riding shotgun on a seven-year-old who happened to be far stronger than me.  

[Calm]

3 hours ago, manol said:

Many years ago my "unofficial" Primary calling centered around a particular seven-year-old boy.  Let's call him Nephi, because he was exceedingly large and strong for his age.  Unfortunately Nephi was considered to be disruptive and aggressive.   My job was to prevent him from harming any of the other kids, and/or to take him outside and keep him out of trouble if he became disruptive.

Needless to say I kept a close eye on him in Primary, and what I observed was very interesting.  Nephi never once just went after another kid out of the blue, but he WOULD stick up for WHOEVER some other kid was picking on.  And that usually did not turn out well for the kid who was picking on someone else, because Nephi didn't understand how strong he was.  None of the teachers really had the time to monitor him as closely as I did, so none of them had picked up on the fact the he was always responding to an apparent injustice instead of being the initial instigator.

Did I mention this kid was strong?  One Sunday when we were hanging out outside - he had been kicked out of class and was in my "custody" - Nephi grabbed me around the legs and lifted me off the ground.  Not that I was all that big - maybe 150 pounds at the time - but still, not bad for a 7-year-old.  A member of the Stake Presidency who was much larger than me (about 230 pounds) happened by and we chatted a bit, and I mentioned that young Nephi had picked me up.  We kept on chatting, my attention drifting away from the my custodial duties, until Nephi had quietly wrapped both arms around the larger man's knees and proceeded to pick him up!  I can still see the shocked look on the big man's face as he was lifted off the ground, arms flailing!  I very seriously doubt I could have lifted him.

So that was my one and only, totally unofficial, Primary calling:  Riding shotgun on a seven-year-old who happened to be far stronger than me.  

I did that for a four year old.  Not particularly strong, but fast.  Other kids were scared of him (he was aggressive and violent, don’t think he was a bully, I was worried he was a psychopath, really worried about his two younger siblings, but he grew up into a sweet youth after a couple of years in a special school for kids with anger control issues); he was very disruptive in class, like randomly reaching out and pulling hair or hitting a kid.  Since Primary was the only break from caring for him the mom got, I told the Primary Pres to let me have him in a class of one rather than have a parent sit in.  The lesson would be me pulling out a picture and we would talk about it with me trying to guide into anything positive, church related or not.  Christ’s crucifixion on Easter got into crucifying pigs.  I thought I was finally making some headway when we were discussing missionary work and he said missionaries taught people lessons in the gospel.  And then he added ‘and if they don’t listen, the missionaries go home and get their guns and come back and shoot them’.  I learned from day one never to take my eyes off of him, including during prayer.  He wasn’t going to say prayer, so I did.  Closed my eyes and bowed my head and heard the door slam.  Thankfully my shoes were off because we just sat on the floor on a blanket rather than have him knocking the chair over, so I was able to catch up to him halfway through the building.  I followed him through the gym at full speed, entertaining the elders quorum who were sitting on the stage having class.  Got a hold of him right before he hit the RS room and picked him up over my shoulder and went back to the room.  Got an elbow in my eye that time…or maybe it was another.  His mom was someone I visit taught, so I saw it as a two for one, Primary and VT calling.  I tried having him over to my house for an afternoon, but my five year old was so terrified of him later she begged me in tears never to do it again.  I wasn’t quite quick enough to stop him biting her arm iirc.  So I didn’t try that again.

Fun memories in Primary.
 

The parents were the quietest souls and refused to get him medicated for adhd…I thought they were insane until I saw the end result and heard later after we moved how he had gone on a mission, married, just a nice young man.   No dead bodies at all!

[Emily]

I've been called to teach youth of various ages as an official calling four times in the last 45 years... Once for each ward we attended. But never for very long. I haven't figured out exactly what I'm doing to get such fast releases, but the record is clear.

Ward One: My first ward assignment in our first non-student married ward was teaching Sunbeams. I was tossed out after six weeks and reassigned to the library and various other ATTLE positions for the next four years. (ATTLE: ADULT TEACHER in GD/RS, TYPING ward lists and programs, LIBRARY and various positions to "EDUCATE the ward" specialists)

Ward Two: I was called to Cub Scouts, went to one meeting, then the Bishop released me and I went back to ATTLE positions.

Ward Three: I was assigned to Young Women teaching the Beehives (13 year olds). I lasted six months there and even got to go to Girl's Camp, but I was released and sent back to ATTLE for 16 years.

While in this ward, I was called to teach Sunday School to all unmarried 18-21 year olds for a few months while the Stake was reorganizing the Young Adult Wards in the area. One of my former Beehives came up to me after my first class to tell me that my teaching ability had improved considerably in the past six years. I was, (in her words) "much less boring." 😞 Perhaps a hint to explain the short durations of my youth callings?

Back to Ward Two: We moved back into the geographical confines of our former ward and I was immediately assigned to ATTLE positions. No attempt was made to allow me near children until I was called as the Ward Music Director. In this position, which I held for five years, I frequently substituted as Primary Chorister and worked with the YM/YW, helping them with special musical numbers and holiday youth choirs. As a consequence, the kids in this ward knew who I was. They recognized me in the grocery store, waved at me in the parking lot and hugged me in the church halls. I consequently thought I might be given a youth calling when I was released. But no, ATTLE and Relief Society Secretary, which is also at it's heart, an ATTLE position  

We just moved again though, to a new state this time. No one knows anything about me at all, so it will be interesting to see if I'm destined for the Primary or more ATTLE positions. I'll let you know in about eight weeks. 😝

Having said all that, I DO have a Primary story from my one Primary calling. The mother of one of my Sunbeams had recently announced a new pregnancy. In an attempt to make conversation, I asked the prospective brother if he was looking forward to the new baby. He piped up quite eagerly, "Yes. I want a brother. But a sister would be okay. My Dad doesn't want either though, he wanted a new truck."