Getting Young People To Do Crafts

I have no little children; I have no children. My one regret. But I’ve helped raise several, including my own brother and sister. From the time I was very young, I was interested in helping kids be “good” kids. Being good is much easier on the nerves than being bad, especially when one is caught being bad. So, to me, being good made sense. When I could manage it.

Children need rules and guidelines. We all agree on that. Usually. Encouraging them to join in sports is one way to teach children how to respect and follow policy.
Crafts are another way, and a very satisfying way, for children to learn how and why to follow a set way of doing things. Granted, crafts encourage creativity and an individual flair. But unless someone learns the right way of doing something, it is harder to learn how to elaborate and improve on it. Following a pattern or a design or instructions takes concentration. It takes focus. It takes dedication. Joy follows when the results are visual. It’s not a competition. It’s a pleasure and it’s personal.

Children have been taught crafts to some extent, at school, for centuries. Most homes with kids have at least one hand-made item in them that the kids brought home from school. Not all of us are able to teach crafts to children. But every one of us can encourage them to want to learn. How? Mostly by giving or showing them the end results. If they like a cell-phone holder, or a sweater, or a piece of jewelry that is hand-made, they are more likely to want to try to make something like that in the future.

Heavenly Father, help me to see the ways I can encourage young people to work with their hands.