Bury OUR Weapons (Anti-Nephi-Lehis)

From Blue Skies Ahead: "First up, we re-read the story of Ammon to the kids. We focused on how when they joined the church of Christ, they were completely changed.  So much in fact, they even changed their names, so they could be set apart from the other Lamanites.  We taught the kids how the Anti-Nephi-Lehies promised Heavenly Father that they would never shed blood again, and buried all of their weapons of war so they would never be used again.  They made a covenant with Heavenly Father, and even when they were being attacked by the wicked Lamanites, they would not break their promises. 

Then I asked the kids what the opposite of war was.  They weren't sure, so we discussed that the opposite of war is peace.  I asked if we had wars in our house...they all yelled "NOOO!!"  Then we talked about how we may not have physical wars in our home, but we do have situations that keep us from having true peace.  And we all have different "weapons" that we sometimes make mistakes and use to keep peace from being in our  home."

As we read the story of Ammon and the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, we draw what's happening. The kids often help draw things, and it keeps them more engaged.

We talked about different ways we could have more peace in our home.

Then, we drew a weapon out of colored card stock, and covered/taped the bottom of the sword with tinfoil. We each wrote a "weapon" that we wanted to bury or stop doing, so we could have more peace in our home. My five and six both wrote to not hit. And I wrote impatience. We dug a hole in our backyard and put the swords in there.

Then, we burried the swords. We've talked a lot about peace this week and during conflict, I rememinded my boys about our weapons. I think this lesson stuck with them! And, it was a lot of fun. Next week, I'll be talking about different ways or SOLUTIONS to creating more peace in our home.