I Have a Body like Heavenly Mother

A few months ago, in a monthly review, I linked to Mrayne's Exponent post, What My Daughter Learns, about the messages about our bodies that are taught in nursery class. I taught Sunbeams and hadn't run into handouts like that, though I would mention Heavenly Mother in conjunction with Heavenly Father. I did remember thinking, "Well, I turned down the nursery calling, so I probably won't have to deal with it, but if I did, I'd make sure I mention Heavenly Mother just like I do in Sunbeams."

My ward is persistant, though, and 6 months after working in the Sunbeams, I was asked again to go teach nursery. I relented on my "I don't teach the classes of my own children" rule and accepted the nursery leader calling. Two weeks ago I shadowed the nursery leader as she taught lesson 7, Jesus Christ Created the World for Me. Then I was on my own.

I decided to just go onto the next lesson in order because I wasn't feeling very creative and did lesson 8 last week. The handout for lesson 8 says, "Sunday is a day to remember Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ." I lamented the lack of Heavenly Mother and decided that instead of coloring that whole sheet with the words, they would color the pictures and paste them on a construction paper sun (for "Sun-day"). It was an easy way to avoid having to full-on photoshop the handout. I made sure to say that we remember our Heavenly Parents on the Sabbath.

Tomorrow is lesson 9, the one Mraynes' daughter had. And I decided that I would follow through on my vow to mention Heavenly Mother. So tomorrow, I will go to nursery with a basket full of handouts and half of them will say, "I have a body like Heavenly Mother." The little girl image was taken from the handout of lesson 11, so it's a little extra pixelated, but I don't think the 2 year olds will care.

As I teach, I may run into other lessons and find ways to mention Heavenly Mother. If I find some great ideas, I'll share them here. Feel free to use that handout in your own classes!

Have you tried adapting lessons to include Heavenly Mother? What has worked for you?