Family Conference

One year we decided to make General Conference weekend our "Family Conference" weekend. We wanted to spend the entire weekend together as a family, so we cleared everything from the calendar (games, parties, etc.). Then, I printed up an agenda complete with a schedule of activities, menu, and assignments for the weekend. A few days before the conference, each member was presented with the agenda entitled "Home Can Be a Heaven On Earth." This agenda looked so official, and the menu was filled with such fun food that the kids started to think this might be a pretty cool weekend.

That weekend, we started and ended each day with a devotional, did service projects, went for drives, had story time, worked in the yard, had craft time, played in the backyard, had cuddle time, went on picnics, made cookies, and watched every session of General Conference. Everything was scheduled including food prep (which I kept at a minimum), clean-up time, bath times, and snack times.

Everyone has fun memories of an organized weekend with plenty of attention from Mom and Dad, plenty of cooperation, plenty of spiritual experiences together, and plenty of fun food!

If we do it again, I will make sure that we kick off the weekend with a temple session with the kids who are old enough to do baptisms while the younger kids visit the temple grounds to have a lesson on temples.

If you decide to have a Family Conference, be aware that you can only fit so much in a weekend. Families get stressed when they are overscheduled. Ours was on a 3-day weekend during Fall break. That's how we were able to do so much. Do what works for YOU. Follow the Spirit, then maybe you will come up with something even better!