Calling all Kids

When we moved into Palo Alto Second ward (just weeks after we were married) they gave us a few months grace before they handed us our callings. Luckily enough, we ended up with two joint callings. "The Lyles" were in charge of Leading the music in Sacrament Meeting and in Primary. We both love music and absolutely love being together, so we were thrilled. After the first few weeks the Nursery staff came to us and basically begged us to come in for the last fifteen or twenty minutes of the day and teach music to the nursery kids. No problem, we said, and we have had a dull Sunday since.

We trade off duties. If Brock leads for Sacrament, then I do opening exercises in Primary (and vice versa). I teach the little ones in Jr. Primary and Brock gets the Sr. kids, which suits us both. In Primary we have developed a board game for the kids that they play every week Sr. verses Jr. Primary. The theme this year in Primary is Rainbow, so we used that theme in our game and the end of the board is a pot of gold. They get to go a space for every song they sing well and go back a space if they get rowdy. They've gone back plenty of times, but they're still almost done and then we'll start it over. It works wonderfully.

I was trained as a grade-school teacher (meaning 1st through 3rd grades) and I'm not very comfortable with the older kids. Brock has a more thorough grasp of music theory, which the older kids enjoy learning, and his attitude is more professional, which impresses them. I like teaching with games and energy, but the older kids need facts and energy. Brock loves it.

Some of the kids in Primary make us laugh and laugh. The sunbeams are darling and do their best, blushing when you give them any attention. A few of the older kids have a little too much energy and absolutely cannot sit still, but they're always super bright and know all the words, so you can't complain. What really makes me laugh about the little ones is the way they practically shriek the words when I ask them to be louder. Yikes!

The big kids can get pretty sarcastic and are sharp enough to catch every mistake you make. Still, they have grown less sarcastic as they have gotten to know us and they don't mind our mistakes as long as we are willing to admit it when they happen. They love to lead the music and practice with us for every song, so sometimes Brock will call one of them up to lead the next one. They sing so well, it's hard to believe they are all under twelve years old. What a talented ward!

In nursery we've tried a lot of things. Some work and some don't, but most of the time everything goes pretty well. The little ones love it when Brock brings his guitar (the big favorite it 10 bears on the bed). I introduced the Hokey-pokey, which they enjoy. We also try to teach them a few basic primary songs, so when they graduate they'll be ready to sing with us. They've learned the Sunbeam song, I am a Child of God, Hello Hello, and Do as I'm doing.

These guys are so cute! One little boy, who is too young to either sit still or speak in sentences, loves to watch us sing and interjects a word now and then. When we announce the next song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider" he runs to the mush-pot of the circle and delightedly repeats "'pider!" They all do the motions to every song (or at least smile happily at us as we do them) and no one likes to be left out of ring-around-a-rosy. You should see the circle! Three leaders and about ten kids, all trying to hold one to each other and not fall down too soon. Of course, they all do, but you have to give them credit for trying to stay up.

We really, really love our Callings!