It's Conference Time!

 I love General Conference! It's a great time to feel renewed and received personal revelation as we listen to prophets and apostles! We have felt around the last couple of conferences, trying to create an atmosphere that would help us get the most out of these 5 sessions of conference.
 This year, I've been feeling around more for ideas and traditions that help children get more out of conference. I've started a "notebook" of sites and ideas I found helpful in my search.

What do we do to create a reverent atmosphere?
 1. Dress your best. We stay at home most of conference, but we still dress up. Doing so helps our children (and us) recognize that it is still a sacred and special occasion (though I wear my most comfortable church dress and don't put shoes on)
 2. We clean the house. Then I'm not worried about it through conference.
 3. Set the stage. We set up Austin's big computer monitor from work in the living room, and rearrange the furniture so it's most comfortable for watching a long period of time.
 4. Keep meals simple. We try to have a good size breakfast and then snack or simple meals through the day.
 5. Take naps! I still let the kids take their regular nap times, a luxury we don't get on regular Sunday's for church. However, with the whole weekend adding to 8 total hours of church for them, I don't feel we can afford to let them not nap for two days. They seem much happier and get more out of the experience.
 6. In the past, we've let Cadence play, as long as he's in the conference room, and we make sure he's sitting for prayers, sings the songs with us, and stops to listen to the prophets speak. Now that he's 2 1/2, we're ready to move to more of the ideas below (though I haven't quite chosen what we'll do).

More ideas on preparing children for conference check out these links:


1. Oopsey Daisy (Ideas for Tots)
2. Family Home Evening Planner (Ideas for Toddlers and Preschoolers)
3. Deseret Book (Free Conference Packet Download)
4. Mormon Momma (a TON of Ideas)
5. SugarDoodle (another link list to a TON of ideas)
  - My Favorite - Conference Baggies
6. Official Church Website (Ideas from the April 2009 Ensign)
7. Prepared LDS Family (Conference Activity Notebook)