Primary teachers and families see joy from ministering

As teachers reach out to attach with parents of the kids of their Primary classes, blessings of understanding, unity, support and belonging may be abundant.

Ministering to Primary children and their families can have a profound impact. And Primary teachers will see the enjoyment of their calling.

The Primary general presidency wrote within the Church News that a Primary teacher’s price is great:

“As teachers bless children by serving and ministering to their individual needs, abundant blessings may even enter their lives and they’re going to grow closer to the Lord. Through this labor of affection, each teachers and Primary children will benefit from the promised blessing from our Heavenly Father that ‘great shall be the peace of thy children’”(Isaiah 54:13).

Seeing a toddler of God

When Emma Bair was 3 years old, her parents learned she was deaf. 

The family had just moved into the Valley View Ward within the Rexburg Idaho Stake. Emma’s Primary teachers, Jay and Sharee Covington, got here to the door of the family’s home.

“We’ve come to fulfill Emma and discover what we’d do to best meet her needs,” Sharee Covington said. “Would you be willing to inform us a bit about her?”

Emma’s mother, Melissa Bair, said that following several years of inconclusive audiological assessments, this was unexpectedly refreshing. The teachers focused on Emma as a complete person reasonably than on only the communication delays she had experienced.

As the Bairs shared details about Emma’s diagnosis, the Covingtons listened compassionately. Jay Covington then said simply: “We appreciate you sharing that with us. Would you be willing to inform us about Emma’s interests and skills?”

Bair said she then felt each an increased hope about her daughter’s future and the love of the Savior filling their home.

“Her teachers saw her as a toddler of God who had the capability to contribute, grow and learn,” Bair said.

‘He is a joy and I really like him’

When Laura Collinwood — now within the Monett Missouri Stake — was a young mother in Hillsboro, Oregon, she had a sweet experience with a Primary teacher for her oldest son.

Collinwood said that they had moved removed from her family, and she or he was feeling overwhelmed with three young children while her husband gave the impression to be gone for long hours at his recent job.

She was not used to having kids wake at 5 a.m. day-after-day, and growing up in a family of mostly girls she was not prepared for the energy level and volume her 5-year-old son delivered to their home. She often prayed for greater patience, feeling that she was getting upset too often.

Then, her son’s Primary teacher was on her doorstep with a smile. She had brought a small automobile in gift wrap and a treat for his birthday.

“She told me how much she loved my son and what a superb boy he was,” Collinwood said. “It touched my heart a lot because I felt like he was possibly not feeling as much love and patience at home as he must have been getting.”

This teacher, with a sincere countenance filled with love and gratitude, thanked Collinwood for letting her have her son in her Primary class. “He is a joy, and I really like him,” the teacher said.

Collinwood felt tears come to her eyes. Even years later, while she has forgotten the teacher’s name, she remembers the profound effect this visit had and the way the Primary teacher’s ministry blessed the entire family.

“I’ll all the time be thankful for that visit and the way in which it helped me to be somewhat more kind and patient with my wonderful, busy boy.”

Ministering in Primary

The General Handbook explains that Primary helps children feel their Heavenly Father’s love; study His plan of happiness; live the gospel of Jesus Christ; and feel, recognize and act on the influence of the Holy Ghost.

Primary can also be a time to organize for, make and keep sacred covenants as children take part in God’s work of salvation and exaltation.

Presidency members may match with ministering brothers and sisters, teachers and others to support parents. The Primary president helps the ward council know the name and residential circumstances of every child as a way to enhance ministering to children and families.

An update to the General Handbook in July 2021 added the word “ministering” to Primary leaders’ roles. For example, section 12.3.5 now says of Primary teachers and nursery leaders:​ “These members are called to show and minister to specific age-groups of youngsters.”

In an interview with the Church News in July 2022, Primary General President Susan H. Porter said a Primary calling is a calling to minister.

“When we’re called to serve in Primary, it extends beyond that point we spend with them in school,” President Porter said. “We have the chance to wish for them, to get to know them, to perhaps communicate with their parents about how best we are able to support them.”

Serving in Primary can have a life-changing impact not only on the kids but in addition on the leaders. “And I believe the more we’ve that vision — that it’s also a calling to minister to the kids — it’ll help that calling change into a lot richer for us,” she said.