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| Wednesday, June 19, 2013 |
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When I was serving as the ward mission Leader in my ward, I was assigned to home teach with the bishop. I would always tell him that when it came time for me to be released that I wanted to serve in the nursery. I told him that was my dream calling, especially since my son was in the nursery. Well, when I got released, I was called to serve in the nursery. For the next six months, I served in the nursery and loved it. I didn’t have to attend PEC, ward council or any other meeting. I just showed up on Sunday and worked in the nursery. What a wonderful calling! A former stake president of mine mentioned to his bishop that he wanted to serve in the nursery after his release. After serving so many years in a leadership position, he wanted to work in the nursery and have a calling he could truly love. Nursery was the perfect calling for him. I learned a lot from his willingness to serve in the nursery after having been a stake president. |
Yeah, I’ve heard/read about stake presidents to want to be in the nursery after their tenure as SP is over. |
If I’m wrong about guys not being able to say this is “their dream calling”, I’m happy to hear it. I remember a bishop being released in one of my wards and he was called thereafter to serve in the nursery. He was apparently thrilled. I’m looking forward to this experience. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot and I think it will be cool to get to know parents as well as their children. |
My ward disbanded nursery last month b/c there weren’t enough people to staff it. Apparently there were five people called but only one would show up to the nursery and the poor sister would be overwhelmed week after week trying to keep the kids from going nuts. Now parents of the children have to be present on a rotating basis. I guess it isn’t everyone’s dream calling. |
Nursery is a great calling. The most successful nursery leaders are organized nursery leaders. Make sure you teach a lesson, have song time, do a craft, and have a snack. It shouldn’t just be play time. We always started with the toys or snack depending on the hour of church. Then everyone would clean up. That’s followed by a lesson, the song time, then craft (related to the lesson). Encourage the parents to talk to their kids about the craft, because then the kids can tell them what they learned in the lesson. We then spent the last 10 minutes listening to primary music and blowing/popping bubbles until their parents picked them up. The lessons should be simple, but that can be the sweetest and most rewarding part. Many times the gospel is most beautiful in its simplest form. |
I am eternally grateful for nursery leaders. After battling kids during sacrament meeting, there is nothing more relieving than to unload them in nursery and enjoy a couple hours of relative solitude. |
I loved serving in the nursery. My wife and I served together and we had a great time every week. There is a major difference between children that age and the thirteen-year-olds we teach now. They actually like you. |
I was put in the nursery (by request) after getting released from the Bishopric and it was one of my favorite callings. Now a few years later, I have some of those same kids in my Valiant class and I have developed a great relationship with both them and their parents. Enjoy it! |
I’d love to be in Nursery. I actually went to nursery for about 3 months with my first daughter when she got to that age. It was great! I guess my dream calling is to be with my kids at church… so my dream callings is “dad”… |
I too, have heard that Nursery is a preferred destination calling, but I’ve also heard that most wards put a built-in expiration date into place, like 1 year. My wife liked it, but it was difficult when our son was in — he needed another adult other than her. They had a bishop change right before her year was up and she ended up there for 2 years, before they finally released/saved her. |
Oh, and as a parent, can I just ask — if you’re going to use playdoh in the nursery, can you give parents at least a week’s warning, so that we don’t send them in nice clothes? Thanks. |
Last night I told my mother about us getting this calling and she remembered having had this calling for about three years. That was many years ago. She told me she found it was a great opportunity to do missionary work … that she found a lot of parents didn’t come to church because they were worried about their kids making noise or whatever. She found if she made a point of telling the parents what her teaching plans were and made it clear the children were welcome, that it was a way to activate people. One thing about her though – she’s hyperproductive in her callings. I really need to learn something from the way she approaches these things. |
About 5 months before my stake president got called to be my stake president, I was talking to him and he said that he believes nursury is the best calling in the church. I have to agree – what other calling lets you sit on the floor and play with toys, have snacktime, and only involves about a 10 minute lesson? |
The one complaint I’ve heard about nursery is that it precludes those involved from regular Sunday interaction with the adults in the ward. I’ve often seen that new couples in a ward will be assigned to the nursery and it seems this can prevent them from properly ‘integrating’ into the ward and from people in the ward getting to know them. I don’t know to what degree that is true. Anyone else heard this as a complaint? |
I’ve heard that complaint, danithew. It’s also a bad place to stick a new convert who has babies at home, fwiw. |
I agree that its best not to put new people in the nursery. There is also a large contingent of “older” women who’s children are grown, who refuse to serve in nursery because they’ve “put in their time.” Sad, but true. |
I second Jota G’s suggestion that it be structured. Ten minutes of this, ten minutes of that, and before you know it, the time is gone. If you’ve planned it right, the kids have all had a great time, and want to come back next week. Besides, as jjohnsen says, they still like you. |
Nursery is a nice calling for people who have already put in a lot of work in the ward and are already securely integrated into the society of the ward. For newcomers it is not a good calling, whether they want it or not. Nursery is pretty-much a social isolation chamber. The LDS equivalent of solitary confinement. You don’t hear about any of the activities going on, you never meet anyone, and you never learn anything. I think it’s probably one of the worst callings you could give a new convert, and it is not ideal for someone who just moved into the ward either. Some people also want to be in there because they don’t like interacting with their fellow ward members, for whatever reason. In that instance, allowing the calling may be somewhat akin to allowing them to run away from their problems. That said, I served in nursery and liked it well enough. I liked it better than being in the Elders Quorum Presidency, but not quite so much as serving as Executive Secretary, or CTR 6 teacher. |
I spent three years as Primary president in my last ward. At first I was terrified because I don’t have a lot of experience with children (my daughter was only 6 months old when I was called), but I really like working with the kids. Although, as others have pointed out, it can feel isolated since you don’t interact with other adults as much. I think the best thing to do with nursery is to keep it simple and keep it structured. Have a routine/schedule that you follow each week. Keep lessons and snacks simple (please, only water and relatively unmessy crackers). Please don’t do playdough! (Or paint, or glitter). The manual is actually pretty comprehensive and has lots of good ideas. You can also search online with the Friend and that’s a good source for things like coloring pages, puppets, games, poems, etc. One thing I like that my daughter’s Sunbeam class does is they print out on the coloring sheet each week what the theme of the lesson was and maybe a little follow up question. That might work best for older kids, but I like knowing what they talked about so we can review it that night in Family Home Evening. Make sure you have some singing time. If you feel like you need accompaniment, the manual should come with a CD of nursery songs and you can also get the Primary book on CD. I will admit that I’m probably too picky, but I don’t really like the songs we use in nursery right now. They have the Primary chorister come in, and she has a CD with a bunch of generic kids songs that she puts on and sings. I wish she would do more church songs, since Nursery is a church class and it’s a good opportunity for kids to start learning Primary songs. They can learn some of the easier ones, especially with actions or puppets to go with them (in my old ward they came up with some good finger motions for “I Love to See the Temple” and my daughter could sing it by two years old). |
I was an “older” woman when I was called into the nursery (after teaching gospel doctrine) and I loved it. After a year when they asked if I was ready to be released, I asked to stay and ended up staying for 3 years before I was ready to go back to other classes. There’s very little during the week preparation, you get to take off your shoes and play. Your wife will realize quickly that she will need to choose her Sunday wardrobe carefully — something that doesn’t need dry cleaning and will allow sitting on the floor comfortably. My brother was released as EQ President and called to the nursery — he had a daughter in there. He loved it as well. I think it’s a great place, but it can be kind of isolating. Nursery workers don’t always get information about what’s going on and don’t get included in sign-ups for things. You need to be proactive if you want to know about those kind of things. We always did bubbles while waiting for the kids to be picked up and they never get tired of it. A bubble machine is nice. |
re #15,#16,#18 de-lurking here. As an adult convert, Nursery was my first calling (assistant to an excellent Nursery Leader), and I *loved* it – it was learning the gospel at my level (in little bites) and nowhere near as hard for a new person as an adult class or RS would have been. |
#14 “I’ve often seen that new couples in a ward will be assigned to the nursery.. ” Very true. I use to do this all the time with new ward members and newly weds so someone would be there -until they woke up, realised what was happening and asked for a release. Then only the actual parents would stay there sometimes as an ad hoc calling. Maybe the US church is developed enough to have a well organized and working nursery. Every ward I’ve seen has a problem in this area. No one wanted to do that calling -unless it was the actual parents. |
I just substituted at nursery this past Sunday. Sure enough, the nursery leader was a sister I’d never met and didn’t recognize. But as we juggled kids and carried on a conversation over about 20 square feet of solid toys, I found out that she’d been in the nursey for 8 years, had a several year hiatus during which she was a primary teacher, and now she is in her 2nd year as nursery leader again. She loves it and never wants another calling. And as I got to know her (as much as I could during that time), I realized how very glad I was that the little kids of the ward were all having the same experience with this loving woman. It’s kind of like the kindergarten teacher that everyone remembers. Oh, and it was also nice to have all of the parents be so grateful when they came to pick up their kids :). |
Good luck and have fun! It’s the only calling where you can play the church hours away! :) |
What age range is nursery? |
18 months to 3 years, although they don’t move up to Sunbeams until the first of the coming year. Wouldn’t we all love to have a pediatrician taking care of our kids in the nursery? But I can see trouble because (were it me) people would be asking for all kinds of free medical advice. #18 & 19, amen. Good comments. I loved the nursery, I was in twice. But, boy, those little bodies do wear one out. When I would have Bill come and help me, the kids just loved it. They’d crawl all over him. It’s really a lovely calling. Unless you’re a young mother with 4 kids under 6. I just don’t think that’s fair. I think it’s entirely fair for an older woman to help her get a break. |
The two most important things I learned about nursery: 1. Most children’s tolerance of each activity in the lesson is as many minutes as they are old. For example, a three year old will give you about three minutes of attention during a story. 2. Bubbles. Especially at the end when the toys are put away and you are waiting for parents. |
Yup, bubbles rock. We also fed them constantly. I think three minutes is too long, actually. The first time I was in nursery, I was the oh, what’s the word, “low” companion to the other lady who was quite anal. She did all the work and I cuddled the kids which worked for both of us. But she would read to them and she would insist on reading every single word in the book. More often than not, she ended up alone for the last 2 minutes of that three minutes, even I got bored and left. |
Naisy, I appreciate those two points. Both sound pretty real and practical to me. I’ll divide 2 hours into 3 minute installments and take it from there. I’m kind of kidding … but still, I get your point. |
For me, there’s a huge difference between being the nursery leader and a nursery worker or parent volunteer. If the nursery leader isn’t ‘doing a good job,’ (very subjective), being a nursery worker or parent helper can just about drive you crazy. Currently my daughter won’t be left in nursery for the first (‘second’) hour because it is a mad house of ‘free play’ in which toys are dumped out randomly and the kids fight and trample each other (she just turned 2 and is pretty small for her age). She’d rather go sit on a chair in the sunbeam class and hear their lesson! For the second (‘third’) hour, she’ll stay because the activities are organized and directed (singing time, snack, lesson, craft, story etc). They just called a young grandma type in there who has never served in nursery and hasn’t been properly trained/read the manual because she was all about making them share and taking toys away, resulting in constant screaming which of course set off a bunch of the other kids……… arghhhhhhhhhh |
When I was married and raising children, there was a little-known footnote in the General Handbook of Instructions. It said something like, “If Nick Literski’s wife gets pregnant, the couple must immediately be called to the nursery. Furthermore, if Nick Literski and his wife change wards, they must be immediately be called to the nursery, even if they are caring for a newborn of their own at the time, and just barely escaped from another ward’s nursery.” The footnote was finally removed in time for the birth of my last daughter. Having been in the position to know such things, I can say that many LDS members actually refuse a calling to the nursery. Sad to say, there are also a few (very few, I’m sure) bishops who use the nursery as some sort of “outer darkness,” where they can exile ward members who’s participation in Sunday School or quorum meetings raises an eyebrow. All that said, my hat is off to those who gladly, and wholeheartedly, serve in the nursery. Word to those of you who have new-to-nursery children: the nursery leaders would prefer that you not sit by Junior’s side for an hour, when he cries that mommy or daddy are leaving him. Go to your class, and he really will survive. He’ll almost always stop crying shortly, and get involved with the other kids. |
LOL, Nick, that’s what I think is written about me and visiting teaching. |
I’m sure that working in the nursery is pleasant and fun for many, but the way some go on about their desire to serve there seems to mostly be a way of signalling their humility. “I don’t need no fancy visible callings. Serving the least of the little lambs is what I want because, you see, I’m a true humble disciple.” |
Our oldest son and his wife were worked in their ward nursery for a few years. Our son from time to time took his digital camera in and would snap cute or imaginative pictures of the kids while they were playing. When he had accumulated enough photos, he’d burn them to CDs and give them to the kids’ parents. Our son and daughter-in-law loved the calling and were sad when they were released. By the way, the positive attitude that a lot of members have towards the nursery nowadays is quite a contrast from 25-30 years ago. Back then, the nursery was under the Relief Society (at least it was in our ward); service was a bit like cleaning the chapel, that is, you volunteered or were asked to serve on a given Sunday and then (in theory) you wouldn’t do it again until most everyone else had. In practice — at least in our ward — it was very difficult getting anyone to volunteer. My former wife had for a while (early 80s) the RS calling of finding the nursery workers for each Sunday, and it just about drove her to tears at times — it wasn’t unusual for her to go through the entire ward list (at least, all the active members) and not having anyone say yes. ..bruce.. |
“There is also a large contingent of “older†women who’s children are grown, who refuse to serve in nursery because they’ve “put in their time.†Sad, but true.” Being a grandmother, I have to say that caring for toddlers can be incredibly stressful on an older body, but that’s so embarassing to admit, so who is going to tell the bishop the real reason? There may be issues with one’s knees, because it’s best to spend a lot of time at the kids’ level, reading and playing games, but the getting up and down can be challenging. There may also be problems with incontinence, making it impossible to pick up a child, which can be a useful technique in dealing with kids that age. Not to mention back problems. If I had those problems, I might tell folks that I had “done my time” as well, instead of admitting the grisly truth. |
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