LDS General Conference is just five days away. Where did those six months go? If you’re not familiar with General Conference (GC) it occurs every April and October where members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “gather” from all over the world to be instructed by our church leaders.

Our leaders share messages of inspiration, hope, council, and direction that help us build our faith, find more meaning in life, assist us in our everyday trials and struggles, and encourage us to focus more on the Savior and his teachings.

This semi-annual event consists of watching these messages broken up into four general sessions and one specific session for men, over a two-day period, with each session lasting approximately just under two hours.

There is an additional session, specifically for women, which is always held the weekend before. It’s also part of the overall conference.

As you might imagine, sitting through ten hours of men and women talking on TV is not any kid’s idea of fun, unless it’s about video games or social media, or something else they like.

Chloe taking it all in

As almost any member of the LDS church will tell you, getting their kids to pay attention for even just one 15-minute talk can be a challenge, let alone convincing them to sit still for 8-10 hours; especially young children.

So what can you do to keep your kids more interested in this event every six months? Over the years, we have tried several different things and we’ve stuck with the ones that have worked well.

A Word of Caution

Before I get into the details, let me offer a word of caution. Every kid is different but most kids will typically get more cooperative as they get older. That being said, you will have to tailor these ideas based on the age of your children.

And I would also recommend never forcing your kids to sit through every talk. As they get older you can require them to spend more time watching and listening, but when they are young it does no good to force them to watch. They won’t be happy, or reverent and you won’t be able to get anything from the messages.

We have learned from experience that when we offer them activities that keep them interested they tend to want to stick around and be a part of the Conference. When our kids were younger we only REQUIRED them to listen to the prophet’s messages and INVITED them to listen to the rest.

Mostly, they would be in and out doing other things. But they learned to have positive feelings for General Conference instead of negative ones, and that is really important for them as they get older and start to mature.

So here are some of the best ideas we’ve come up with and most of these are still traditions the kids excitedly look forward to every time GC comes around.

Pop-up Tents

Many years ago, we had two little pop-up tents, each of which could hold two small kids. As GC approached I was reminded of the story in the Book of Mormon of King Benjamin.

This prophet/king called all his people to one location so he could address them and share a very important message with them.

The people gathered from all over the land to listen and because he shared his address over several days, the people brought their tents and camped out. They also pointed their tent doors to the temple where King Benjamin was located while he addressed them.

So, you can probably see where this is going. We set those two tents up right in our family room with the doors facing the TV. The kids absolutely loved the idea. And guess what? They spent almost the entire 10 hours in those tents that weekend and they were quiet and actually paid attention. It was amazing!

As they’ve outgrown the tents we have stopped doing this, but to this day they still remember that experience warmly. If you don’t have a pop-up tent that will fit in your family room, then be creative and build one of your own. Your kids will love doing that!

Priesthood Session and DQ

When our oldest was about five he wanted to go to the priesthood (men’s) session with me, which is televised to church buildings all over the world. This meeting is intended for all males, ages 12 and older.

I told him, no, but he persisted so I thought: “Why not? If he wants to go what can it hurt?” So I took him and he was very reverent. He fell asleep. But that was ok. It started a tradition that still continues today. Our youngest boy is now eight and he started going when he was six.

Now, every time general conference comes around my four boys and I head to the church for this session. When it’s over we go to Dairy Queen, or out for some other special treat. We added the DQ element about seven or eight years ago and, of course, it was a hit.

Ice Cream!

Carol does the same thing the weekend before with our oldest daughter for the General Women’s session. As soon as our youngest is old enough to be reverent that long she will join them.

Yes, the kids look forward to the treat, but that’s ok. They also look forward to going to the conference together and we always have a good time. And most of the boys stay awake the entire session now, too. Mostly…

Homemade Word Search

This idea is not unique as you can find these types of options all over the Internet. However, we thought it would help keep them more focused and reverent if we made it a little harder. So, we created our own word search puzzle that is large and contains numerous words.

It keeps them occupied and quiet, which makes it easier for us to really listen and focus. Of course, you can adjust the difficulty level according to their ages. Click here to see our puzzle.

The Feast!

Here is another tradition our kids love and look forward to as part of GC. The Sunday morning session ends at 11:00 PT and the afternoon session starts at 1:00. Several years ago, we promised the kids a “feast” in between sessions if they were reverent for the first session.

Time to eat

This feast is nothing fancy but it is out of the ordinary so they love it. They all gather on a large blanket on the floor in the middle of the room. We prepare several plates of food, including hand sandwiches, fruits & veggies, chips, and treats. They indulge themselves completely and are well fed for the next session.

It helps keep them quiet for the first session so they can earn the feast and they’re too stuffed to talk and run around for the next session. Works like a charm.

The Snack Game

This is likely their favorite tradition and it helps keep them very focused for the last session. It is a word association game with a reward. We choose about 12-15 gospel-oriented words that they are likely to hear during the session. Each one of those words is attached, literally, to a specific snack or treat.

We’ve used crackers, pretzels, nuts, raisins, and different types of candy, among other things. Every time they hear one of these words they get to have the snack that goes with it. So, obviously, you can see why they love this game.

What Works for You?

While we do still have two kids younger than 10, for the most part, our kids do well during General Conference. It’s never perfect and sometimes we miss out on some of the messages, putting out fires amongst the kids, and such. But they’re kids. It’s going to happen.

The good news is we can always review the messages as many times as we want online after the conference is over, without the kids in our hair.

We would love to hear your ideas. Please share what ideas have worked for you in the comments section below.