Leadership for the Youth

lds.org

Our time with the youth is full of lessons, Personal Progress, activities, camp, and meetings.  It is our responsibility, and indeed a blessing, to teach these young people leadership skills.  The Church has provided a wonderful resource for us at:  https://www.lds.org/callings/young-women/leader-resources/teaching-leadership-skills?lang=eng .  Each one of these lessons is designed for the YW to give to EACH OTHER in their presidency meetings.  

We often train our class secretaries to take roll and our class presidents to conduct.  This is the beginning of the training they receive for going out into the world as LDS leaders when they leave the Young Women organization.  When they are called as a presidency, these lessons should be assigned in turn, one to each member of the presidency, to be given in their presidency meetings.  I use them in lieu of a spiritual thought or scripture reading.  They are very short and do not require an enormous amount of effort to present.  This oftentimes gives them their first opportunity to teach.  It builds confidence and teaches important principles that they should incorporate in their presidencies.  

As in all things, this will require a little advanced preparation and some encouragement on your part. There are 18 lessons in this section, 6 for Counseling Together, 4 under Spiritually Preparing, 3 for Service, and 5 regarding Teaching.  If you are new to the YW organization, this can be a great support to you as well. (We oldsters benefit as well!)  Teaching these lessons inspires self-assurance in each member of your class presidencys.  They can bring the Spirit into their meetings and help them to plan activities that will build your organization in a wonderful way.  

It is an amazing opportunity to see a Laurel President lead the YW in your ward and to realize that she will be doing the same thing in her Young Adult ward in the near future.  This training will also be invaluable to them as they prepare to serve missions.  My daughters have expressed to me how much these leadership skills have helped them in their college careers, as single women, and in their married lives.  They have felt that the Church has given them skills in speaking, leadership, and organization often not found in the secular world.  The leaders of this Church are truly inspired in the ways they help our young people prepare for their adult lives!