This entry was posted on January 23, 2011 at 6:29 am	and is filed under Lessons:AP/YW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
ks, thanks for posting this. I hope others will chime in with suggestions and ideas. I am particularly interested as I try to understand the mysteries of the female psyche in watching my own two young girls develop.
One idea would be to take up 3 Nephi 18:21 in depth. Why does Christ command to pray together as families? (Pres. Hinckley said some things on this passage back in 1997, just barely under your 15 year suggestion—see reference at the Marriage and Family Lesson 16 here.) What is the nature of prayer generally? How should we think about personal prayer and its relation to our family, ward family, community, etc.?
I think prayer is an endlessly fascinating topic, a fortiori as it relates to family relations.
ks: I’m very happy to have you posting here!
Scriptures: Rebekah and Isaac. I wouldn’t use these words, but the basic point is that Rebekah was driving the spiritual choices in that marriage. Isaac comes across as rather too passive.
Tamar and Judah would also be fun—another example of a woman forcing a man to do the right thing. It’d be fun, but maybe some people would be “offended” by the subject matter.
I got a nice laugh also out of the idea of “increasing” one’s chance of staying married.
I think I’d spin the homemaking emphasis into more of an emphasis on how service and compassion are a good foundation to an eternal marriage. When you love someone, you serve and strengthen them. Having skills to serve with are helpful in a companionship.
I’d want to use caution when “spinning” the homemaking material. I’ve seen it happen too many times: someone comes across as denigrating homemaking, as though homemaking efforts aren’t that important, or valuable, or respectable. So while I think it’s important to encourage girls to look at “modern” options for helping their marriage, it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t disparage “traditional” roles.
Wow, I thought I had it bad with Young Men’s lessons.
I recently saw the new Joseph Smith movie for the first time (I know, it’s been out for several years). I was impressed with the portrayal of Emma. There are a few Emma scriptures, and then her life story, with all it’s interesting twists and turns.
I would also throw in that the standard marriage story is about Adam and Eve. Any time spent there is also some covert temple prep time.
I really like that idea about Adam and Eve – good place to go, and it also gets them more ready for the temple. Great idea.
I get to teach this lesson in two weeks and have really been thinking a lot about it. My first reaction to it was nausea! So, as a single mom and teaching girls who may/may not have the ideal mormon home life… what can I teach them? I have complied several talks by Pres. Uchtdorf and several others. Women are creators, your happily ever after is now! Whatever the circumstances you are living in our Heavenly father gave us the ability to create! We create homes which can be a safe haven, a fortress against satan.
Thanks Sharla. I absolutely love that talk by Pres. Uchtdorf. I also like his image of “the golden ticket.” By the way, I also post lesson notes at Beginnings New, a blog focused entirely on the YW program. Please feel free to comment there as well! There was some discussion similar to your comment on the Lesson 5, Manual 1 post that might be helpful too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. This is a certainly a calling where we really need to pool our ideas and experiences so we can be very thoughtful and careful as we teach.
Thanks for commenting, and again feel free to share your thoughts at Beginnings New as well!