uh, men can be nursery people too

so, i'm doing a lot of researching (aka switching back and forth between facebook, instagram, downton abbey, food) and found that there's a lot of things that cater to the women-folk. ahhh, yes, the women of nursery. (no, there's not a feminist rant in the following paragraphs. wrong blog for that!)

well, hate to break it to you, but men can have callings (i.e. designated responsibility assigned by his bishop) in nursery, too! whooooooa. i know, it's rare, but they do! and they are often really, really good at it in their own way. it's kind of like in a family/new parents' how to article where it suggests that the wife try as much as possible to let the husband figure out his own special way of parenting. it's kind of like that having a guy in nursery. instead of trying to control how he talks to the kids, or how he lays out the snacks, give him a little guidance and let him roll with it. plus, kids love guys, they love the change in the vibes they put out. it's different from the women, and that's a great thing.

i went home to austin this past summer and my mom was no longer the nursery leader. in fact, she hadn't been the nursery leader for almost four years. she was called to be the stake nursery specialist. yeah, i didnt even know they had that! but the lady has a divine gift or sixth sense or something when it comes to children. i get a lot of what i know from her. i'm trying to convince her to hold workshops when she comes to town. aaaanyways, a new nursery leader was called. an awesome brother who was previously a ward clerk, had a wide age range of children from college to kindergarten. his assistant was another older gentleman who had kids in high school. they had an older widow woman as a nursery helper. their system was simple but incredible. nothing out of the ordinary, but still so so great. and they didn't take any credit for it! they said they inherited the schedule and the supplies from the previous nursery leader (who also did an amazing job). but watching them care for and interact with the kids was 100% them and the good man upstairs. it re-motivated me to do better in my calling both as a nursery leader and as a mom. sure they got a lot of transitional help from the previous leader, but this was their show now and it was great.

point of that personal anecdote was to just briefly share that men are pretty great in nursery too, so don't count them out!

a lot of what i post will be for both men and women called to serve in nursery party and a lot of it will be crossovers into homeschooling, parenting, keeping toddlers busy during the winter, at doctors appointments, wherever you find a situation where you need to teach/entertain/interact with the under four crowd.

the usual,

keep it simple & teach the doctrine. and pray, pray a lot.

Sending you all the best vibes in the world,

josie