Nursery Leaders

I know, I know, I am top on the list of world's worst bloggers. More posts with pictures to come, but I've been thinking about this for awhile and had to post it.

This is a shout out to all of you nursery leaders/teachers out there. You may feel like every Sunday, you go to church to be a glorified baby sitter. I know you must go home exhausted and a little grossed out that your clothes are covered in snacks, tears, snot, etc. I'm sure you get tired of washing and sanitizing everything you had on or with you at nursery so that you don't take home any diseases to your own family. I can't even imagine how frustrating it might be every Sunday to find out which kid is "stinky" and then to roam the whole church trying to track down the stinky one's parents. Oh, and how you must feel when every short lesson you prepare and give is more chaos than anything. Many of you may feel under appreciated and forgotten in the nursery where you get to hang out with the most innocent (although they often act otherwise) little people on the earth. BUT...I am here to tell you that we parents with nursery kids love and appreciate you and, although you may never know it, you have a significant impact on the children you serve.

Our little nursery goer came home a few Sundays ago and asked me to sing her a song. I asked her which one she wanted. She replied, "The nursery song." I had no idea which song they had sung in nursery but we talked about what she had learned about and I deducted that the song was, "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ." I started to sing that and she told me that was the one. She now sings it word for word. She loves the part that says "I know God's plan." Because of wonderful nursery teachers, our 2 year old learns songs that I have forgotten I even know. Through these songs and simple lessons, she learns that she is a child of God, that Heavenly Father has a plan for her, that there are prophets that she should listen to and follow. Of course, she doesn't fully understand these concepts, but when we ask her what she learned in nursery, she can tell us about the picture she colored or a song she learned and then we can talk about it at home and throughout the week. She talks about nursery all week long and the second she leaves, she anticipates the next week. I'm sure not all kids love it like she does, but they are still positively impacted by great teachers.

Bro. and Sis. Smith and Bro. and Sis. Eddy ---I don't know that you will ever see this post, but thank you for all that you do to teach our daughter. I'm sure you don't think she is even paying attention during any of nursery, but she is soaking up everything you say and do. She loves you and we love the example you are to her.