Primary Program

Every year, the children in our church put on a Sacrament Meeting program for the whole congregation. They sing the songs they've been learning, they share scriptures, and some of them are asked to give talks. Alice got to sit in the pews with Bobby this year (she aged out of Primary last January, after participating in 9 years of programs!) while the boys and I sat up in the choir seats. Matthew did great. James did great. Robert did great. I was SO relieved that the loudness of the microphone and the congregation staring at them the whole time didn't intimidate any of my kids very long.

Robert was all tied up in knots about his speaking part, though.

He was asked to summarize a story from the scriptures where Jesus showed his love to someone.

I wasn't part of the writing session this time. Bobby kept Robert company in his room and asked him questions to help him figure out what he wanted to say. Robert didn't WANT to say anything. Especially something he wrote himself. He would MUCH rather have been handed a script or a scripture to read. I heard much wailing and moaning through the shut door. It took probably 30 minutes to write it start to finish. In the end, he came out with this, and this was his contribution to the Primary Program this year:

I love that boy.

Right after Robert spoke his part, he turned to go back to his seat. As he passed my seat, he gave me a quick expression: furrowed brow, frown, tongue stuck out in disgust, head shaking side to side. I interpreted it as, "Whew, I hated that." And then he thrust his hand towards me, containing his folded and scrunched up paper, and spoke with a raspy whisper, "Burn this when we get home!"

I received several comments afterwards from people appreciating Robert's honesty.

Both of Matthew's preschool teachers came to see the program. There are three kids from our congregation who attend Wee Disciples Preschool and Matthew is one of them. It didn't occur to me to invite his teachers to the program, but I'm glad someone else thought of it :) One of Matthew's teachers has been at the school long enough to remember Robert as a preschooler there. She especially appreciated Robert's post-talk expression, noting that it was very, very Robert to respond that way. She loved it.

Can I just tell you now that I LOVE that there are people outside my immediate family who know and love my kids? That's special to me.

We got home and I let Robert burn his talk in the outside grill. He was utterly relieved that the whole thing was over. Me too. Those programs are so, so stressful for the kids and the teachers and the leaders. Whew!