Teaching the Law of Consecration in Nursery

When I moved into my current ward in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I met with my bishop who asked about the scope of callings I had held in the past.  I cited off some of the ways in which I'd served, and for some reason especially emphasized my time in serving in the primary several years previous (the branch of the Church that teaches young children- in my case, I taught eleven three-year olds).

Within a couple of weeks I promptly received a calling as a church service missionary, and was asked to serve in the... nursery (children 18 months to three years old).  This wouldn't be too overly spectacular except that the ward that I was attending was a 'Single's Ward,' the congregation of which was composed of young single (i.e., not married) adults aged 18-32.  Few have children.  We didn't have a nursery.  Whoa, what's happening?

Our meetinghouse is a joint building in which two wards simultaneously meet.  It even has two rooms in which the sacrament is passed.  Our adjacent ward is a 'family ward,' and meets at the same time, 9am.  My calling is to serve in the nursery of the sister ward for one hour of our three hour meeting block.  Consequently, every Sunday I show up with a big bag of lesson materials- including a mason jar of puff balls, crayons, boxes, pictures, goldfish crackers, mirrors, wands, etc. The best part- I don't wear any of my cute clothes that I'd normally don at church, but instead wear clothes that are ready for exploding diapers (we have children as young as a year old), soggy mouths, and wet little hands.  The best part?  I don't even mind.  I love those little children, and they are one of the highlights of my week.

The lesson for nursery today was titled "I Will Share," and teaches that true followers of Jesus Christ have always been known for their willingness to share what they have with others.  By sharing our blessings with those in need, we acknowledge that these blessings come from God, and we show our love for all of His children.

It's hard to 'teach' little children to share, especially because much of our teaching is my acting out, or demonstration.  Can you just image handing a little kiddo a piece of candy, and saying, "Share this with your neighbor!"  How rough would it be to give up your candy! or treat! or toy! or whatever prop we used!  It would wreck havoc, because as soon as one of our little darlings start to cry, they all start to cry.  We found ways around it, and the children were quite good.

However, I've had conflicting thoughts about teaching children to share.  Maybe I should re-phrase that as 'forcing' our children to share.  Let's pretend we have two kids, Jack and Jill.  Jack is playing with his favorite toy, and Jill comes up and want a turn.  We as parents automatically seize the opportunity for our little children to share, and Jill gets a turn.  Now, I'm only speaking theoretically because I have no practical experience, but doesn't this deep down teach our children that as soon as they want something they can get it?  We need to develop a sense, persay, of ownership.  I do submit that the 'wait your turn' principle equalizes this problem- we just have to make sure to employ both ideas.  Are we subjugating one child's 'rights' to the toy to another child's 'whim' or 'desire' for the toy?  Either way, sharing amoung our little children is interesting. 

With these completely random debates between sharing, force-sharing, and not-sharing, and the correctness of ownership and giving bumbling around in my head, I prepared to teach my lesson.  Good thing I prayed throughout my preparation, and invested time in the following scriptures:

"And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and good, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45)

"And thus they should impart of their substance of their substance of their own free will and good desires towards God, and to those priests that stood in need, yea, and to every needy, naked soul." (Mosiah 18:28)

"And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." (4 Nephi 1:3)

It quickly became obvious that what I would be teaching my nursery children, at a beautiful young age, was not a social trend or sharing tendencies just to be kind, but the doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Our time together in nursery was planting seedlings that teach about very fundamental principles- in this case- the principle of consecration. Teaching young children to share is a step along the path to teaching them about becoming consecrated, or consecrating themselves to the Gospel and Jesus Christ.  The LDS.org website explains consecrate as:

"To dedicate, to make holy, or to become righteous.  The law of consecration is a divine principle whereby men and women voluntarily dedicate their time, talents, and material wealth to the establishment and building up of God's kingdom."

After making this connection, I was solemnly humbled to teach my nursery class.  I gained a testimony that one way to practice consecration is by being willing to share, and our children desperately need to learn that principle.  I was also grateful to have been, in a small way, reminded that this church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is headed by prophets and seers, and that the manuals and doctrines they provide have great meaning and purpose.  Each lesson that is taught is an opportunity not only to develop proper social skills in our children, but to distill upon them the true doctrines of the kingdom.  In this way, their hearts will ever be open (and they will be willing to share), but they can grow to stand as disciples of Christ throughout a period of time where social trends and obligations fluctuate constantly.