Primary Program

So, I do remember that I had promised a post about how the Primary Program went this past Sunday. Needless to say, I haven't been so excited for something to be OVER!
The kids were especially squirmy this week. No one would stay quiet and everyone needed to be moving constantly it seemed. Thankfully they calmed down a little bit for Sacrament. Whew! They pulled it together and they sat pretty well on the stand, for the most part.
I was very impressed at some of the children who had memorized their parts. Every year they ask that the speaking parts be memorized, but usually no one does. We had 6 kids with memorized parts, I would call that a success! When it came to the songs though, I knew it wasn't going to be that great. Usually during singing time, the kids don't care, they don't want to pay attention, they chit-chat, and the last thing they want to do is sing meaningful songs. They would rather sing "Popcorn Poppping", "Once There Was A Snowman", "Hinges", etc. So as soon as they have a theme of "Acion", we will be set.
I kind of felt like a failure of a chorister, because really, they didn't know as much as they should have. I tried my best, sang the songs with them every week, made up actions (though, I wasn't fond of the actions during the program, its kind of distracting), gave them incentive, played games with them....ugh. But a wonderfully sweet person brought it to my attention, that I can only do so much in 20 minutes a week. By the next week, they have forgotten most of what I had taught them the previous week.
We had made a CD of all the songs on the program for each child to take home. That way they could listen to the songs at home, and maybe that would help them retain the information. However, we would ask them, "Whose Mom & Dad played their CD for them this week?", I think about 3 would raise their hands. So really, next year, we really need to stress that we need the support of the parents to pull it off.
It made me think of the things I would like to do with my children as a parent. I would like to sing the songs with my children, and I hope they remember them with the fondness that I do. I didn't really need a refresher course on the songs when I was called, I have been singing them all my life. I even credit "I Love to See the Temple" with my desire to be married in the temple since I was a child, and I have achieved that. If their parents would stop and listen to the principals the wonderful Primary Songs teach, I think they would be more likely to pop those CDs in! Because out of all of the things people remember, I would say songs rank up there pretty high. People remember cute little songs, just like when the cute little annoying jingles from commercials get stuck in your head. So hopefully when I do decide to have children, that I will be able to help my kids while they are small to sing the songs, cause lets face it, besides teaching them prinicpals, its just plain cute! :)