Toast, Tapes, and Scripture Study

As the mother of five active young boys, I felt overwhelmed when I thought about family scripture reading. But one day I thought of a time when all five were reasonably still and quiet—when they were eating!

The next morning I got everyone started with breakfast, then began reading to them from the Book of Mormon. With their mouths full and their ears open, I had a captive audience, and it was the most successful session we’d had. Further experiments have proved that mealtimes are one of the best settings for our family’s inconsistent but enthusiastic scripture reading and discussion.

Scripture story tapes are another effective way to involve children with the scriptures. High quality scripture story tapes are available from the Church Distribution Center at a surprisingly low cost, and they can also be borrowed from many libraries. Our children really enjoy these cassettes, and choosing a tape for “lights out time” has become a family tradition.

Tapes work equally well for waking children up. Turning on a tape just before they have to get up can ease them gently into the morning. (Playing scripture tapes the last thing at night and the first thing in the morning may be especially valuable in light of research showing these are prime learning times.) Best of all, the children can listen and learn from the tapes even when I can’t be with them.

As the world’s clamor gets louder and the challenge of directing children’s thoughts to scriptural truths seems harder, what a boon to discover teaching tools and times that work for our family!—Darla L. Hanks, Salt Lake City, Utah