Children and Youth

My 10-year-old pitches a different excuse every week to convince us it’s impossible for him to go to church. And while I want him to be there, the resistance is draining.

After two years of postponements, the exciting new Church-hosted youth conferences are back in full swing this summer!

Eager to see the class unfold, I positioned my achy self at the top of the steps, out of flu-sharing range but where I could secretly watch what was going on.

The first youth Face to Face event of the year will air on Wednesday, March 9, 2022.

I was amazed at the efforts to truly tailor this event to children. Here are a few things that impressed me as a mother about the most recent Friend to Friend.

Several Primary-aged children held cameras, makeup brushes, and producers' clipboards behind the scenes of the worldwide event.

The Primary general presidency worked with language specialists and native-speaking children to record their parts of the event in Spanish and Portuguese.

With the push for at-home gospel learning, more and more gospel resources are being released for our little ones.

Fifteen-year-old McKay Nelson started a project centered on the Book of Mormon that ultimately gathered participants from Bulgaria to New Zealand.

President Camille N. Johnson of the Primary General Presidency shared Thursday on Facebook that the Church has launched a new YouTube channel specifically designed for children.

FSY conferences have been on hold since 2020 due to the pandemic but are back on for next year. Here’s why the conference is so important for youth.

In the last installment of a four-part series from Church News on the essential role of councils in the Church, Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon shared some insight into the development of the Children and Youth program.

Editor's note: Our bi-weekly Friday column, “Found in the Footnotes,” explores some of the footnotes from remarks given by General Authorities and General Officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The following article is brought to you by Gospel Day by Day, a community designed to help parents lead home-centered gospel learning. You can find Gospel Day by Day on Instagram here.

I’m currently serving as a Young Women adviser in my ward. When the new Children and Youth program was first announced, I was both nervous and excited. How different would this be from Personal Progress, Duty to God, Activity Days, or Scouts? Would our youth feel like this was one more thing they had to add to their busy schedules, or would this new program easily integrate into their current extracurricular activities? Would it be flexible for our small youth program?

To those who have been wanting to group chat their quorum or class like Elder Gerritt W. Gong did with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the wait is coming to an end.

As someone who has been observing the development of the curriculum for the Children and Youth program, I have been impressed with its focus on transitioning children into responsible adults. I believe all parents want to see their children evolve into responsible adults, though there are as many varied opinions as there are parents on how best to accomplish that goal. Achieving the goal of transitioning youth into adults appears further complicated by the fact that children with different personalities may actually require a parenting approach tailored to their unique strengths and weaknesses. Sister Joy D. Jones, Primary general president shares, “Leaders and parents, keep in mind that you help children and youth best when you support their efforts instead of tracking them.” It’s my hope that all parents will be able to see how the new program encourages children to take personal responsibility for their development and can be easily adapted to the specific needs of each individual child.

Leaders and youth beginning the new Children and Youth program will find updated websites for the Young Women, Aaronic Priesthood and Primary organizations.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have known that a new Children and Youth program was coming, but there remained a lot of unknowns, many of which were answered during the Face to Face event on Sunday.

It's never too early to start teaching your children about the Book of Mormon. With books, movies, puzzles, and dolls, your children will learn how to be obedient like Sariah, brave like Abinadi, helpful like Ammon, and strong like Nephi.

On September 29, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world were introduced to the new children and youth program during a video presentation.

Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Friday that stakes in the United States and Canada will sponsor biennial conferences modeled after Brigham Young University's Especially for Youth program.