Teach them the Constitution
If we hope to have our children uphold the Constitution, we
must teach it. Yes, they learn some in
the schools, but we can be a second source of knowledge. We can teach them the truth that this is a
great, inspired document from God.
Ideas Families have Tried:
1. Read from the
Constitution together.
2. A special
Constitution Night each September, to celebrate!
September is Constitution month, since Sept. 17th
is the anniversary of it’s signing. What
a super reason to celebrate! We are
free! And we have a Constitution to
protect our Freedoms!
Then comes a red,
white, and blue cake for refreshments!
The Bailey’s watch “A More
Perfect Union: America Becomes a Nation”
once a year. It is an exceptional film,
researched and filmed by BYU about our beginnings and our constitution. http://findingaid.lib.byu.edu/viewItem/MSS%206837 (It is
also available on Amazon.)
Sue Bailey found "Constitution"
graphs and charts that they review as a family.
See Latter-day Family Resources http://www.lovetolearn.net/ . They also read together stories about
the founding of our country and its constitution. In addition, they search for and read
together in the Book of Mormon about the greatness of and the prophecies about
America, the land of promise (some examples below).
3. Sing about America
and the Constitution.
The Barnetts taught their kids
the Preamble, set to music. They found a
well done version of the song at and had fun learning it together and sang it
often. The inspiring words were there in
their children’s heads forever! http://www.singnlearn.com/Item/331
The Hensons learned the Preamble
as well, with hand signs to go with it!
They sing together favorite songs about America.
4. Learn the Stories
of the Founding Fathers.
The Griffiths tell stories of the Founding Fathers and their
struggle to come to a consensus on the ideas to use. They act out the stories, make up games, and
celebrate the Founder’s birthdays during the year.
The Markhams made a simple family
constitution of their own. As a family,
they memorize parts of famous speeches, documents, and quotes of the
great leaders of America’s past. One
such quote is “Not one of all that sacred band died with a
stain upon his name…there is not one to blush for.” (Introduction, p.
xx Sanderson's Biography of the Signers
of the Declaration of Independence. Old- 1848. Free online set of
books of antiquity. A resource for unrevised opinions about the Founders.)
5. Discuss Ideas:
The Scriptures teach us about America and the Upstanding men God
raised up to write our Constitution:
“And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this
land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and
redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.”
(Doctrine & Covenants 101:80.)
“This is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess
it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations
under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ.”
(Ether 2:12.)
“There shall none come into this land [he was speaking of
America] save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord…
The Tanners discuss with their family a
basic concept that is foundational to everything: “What are rights?
(life, freedom to act in ways that do not harm others, and property, or the use
of your life and abilities to earn, create, build, and develop things.)
These come from GOD, who created us and gave us life, time, and
abilities. We are accountable to Him for what we do with our lives, our
time, our talents and property.” 1
Guy and Ginny Tanner demonstrate the
idea of people’s law and ruler’s law using a fulcrum and a lever. They talk
about finding a balance between anarchy and tyranny, between people and the
government they share their power with and why.¹ (Explained in the analogy below.)
The Greens have discussed another basic concept: Would we ever use a gun to Force someone to
do something? No. So would we ever want to vote to have the
Government do something similar? Force
is not God’s way. It is Satan’s
way. People should be free to choose
something, as long as it does not harm others or society.¹
My Favorite
Idea:
6. Use Ken Bennett’s The US Constitution Analogy:
Governments have
Power. Where do they get this power
from? Sometimes we think that the
government gives us rights. But it is We
the People who have the God-given rights, some of which we share with the
Government, as outlined in the Constitution.
Electricity is also a
power and so we can learn about power from electrical devices.
1. The Extension Cord.
It transfers power from a
Source (the Outlet) to Where we need to Use the Power (like lighting a lamp
across the room).
A lot of people
misunderstand and think that Governments give power to us as individuals. The Bill of Rights seems to give us these
rights. No. Actually, it is “We the People” that transfer
some of our God-given powers to Government.
You cannot transfer power unless there is some power in the first
place. Even to congress, there is
extended some power that the people had in the first place.
For example, how can we
give Congress the power to coin money?
Well, prior to that, we had power to trade with one another, to
barter. We gave some power to Congress
to coin money to make it easier to exchange goods and services. It was a transfer of power from the People to
the Government—the People had that power to begin with.
2. The Surge Protector.
This is a power strip that
limits the power. If too much
electricity comes through it, it shuts down: “No, you can’t have that power.” Likewise, only certain powers are granted to
government. In the Constitution, the 9th
and 10th Amendments outline those powers reserved for the
States. This seems to be what we have
the most trouble with, limiting the power the Government assumes—they sometimes assume
more than given in the Constitution!
The Bill of Rights spells
out some of these limits: Concerning the
Right to Bear Arms for example, the Bill of Rights states “the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” And further, “Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...” It reserves some of the power for the States
and for the People.
3. The Splitter.
This Divides the power
from one prong to three prongs.
In England, the King had
all the power. Only one made all the
laws and meted out all the punishments.
But in America, we didn’t want just one group to have all the power, so
we divided government into three Branches:
the Legislative Branch, which makes the laws; the Executive Branch,
which enforces the laws, runs the day to day government, and has the power to
veto laws, and the Judicial Branch, which judges the laws to make sure they are
constitutional and meets out punishment. These three branches
check and balance each other.
Put these three elements
together, and we have what the United States Constitution does.²
“The US Constitution” by
Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Given originally at a Cub Scout Blue & Gold
Banquet years ago. Share this
informative 6-minute presentation with your family at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkvn6GMer3E
“I marvel at the
miracle of America, the land which the God of Heaven long ago declared to be a
land choice above all other lands.
“I love America for
her great and brawny strength. I love her for her generous heart. I love her
for her tremendous spiritual strengths. She is unique among the nations of the
earth—in her discovery, in her birth as a nation, in the amalgamation of the races
that have come to her shores, in the strength of her government, in the
goodness of her people.
“God bless America,
for she is His creation.” --President Gordon B. Hinckley
¹Ideas from Marlene Hinton, PhD
² A special thank you to Secretary of State Ken Bennett for
the use of his great idea.
Do you have an idea
you use in your family? Please share it
by commenting below or at ideasformypocket.blogspot.com.
Labels: Children--Let's Raise Patriots #2 Teach the Constitution
