10 Ways to Prepare Your Kids for a Mission

How do you prepare your kids for a mission? It can be hard to know all the things we should or shouldn’t be doing. First of all, let me assure you that kids today are capable and spiritually stronger than ever before. Have faith in them. But faith is an action verb, so we can’t just sit back and wait for their call to come. As parents, we need to be teaching and encouraging many skills; spiritually, emotionally, and logistically. Here are 10 ways to prepare your kids for a mission.

Don’t miss my list of missionary must-haves!

Separate worth from achievements.

When you’re on a mission, it can be easy to compare yourself with other missionaries. Maybe some have 20 baptisms, and you have 1. That doesn’t make them any better as a missionary. Your worth is not based on how many baptisms or re-activations you can rack up. And I promise this will be very important for your missionary to understand.

Teach them how to cook.

Guess what? There’s a really good chance that your missionary might not have many member meals, and that’s okay. It’s important that they still get some nutrition, so take some time and teach your kids how to cook. And if they need a little help, here’s a great missionary cookbook.

Teach them how to set goals they can control.

It’s not uncommon for missions to set baptism goals. This is an effective way to measure mission goals, but it can be discouraging when it doesn’t happen. Many missionaries feel like a failure. But you can’t base your success as a missionary on someone else’s agency. Teach your kids how to set goals they can control like how many people they will talk to in a day, or how many scriptures they can memorize.

Stop treating negative emotions as a problem.

One important way to prepare your kids for a mission is to stop teaching that negative emotions are a problem. It’s important that we feel any emotion we might have and learn how to deal with it in a healthy manner. Mental health issues are a lot more common in missionaries than you might realize.

Teach them how to do their own laundry.

If you’re kids don’t know how to do their own laundry, start now! They will be on their own soon and if they have clean clothes, their companion will thank you!

Encourage them to discover their spiritual gifts.

Every missionary is unique and brings different gifts to the table. One missionary might be super friendly and outgoing, attracting lots of new friends to church. Another missionary might be really obedient and hard-working, creating deep relationships with members and friends. Does your child know what gifts they have? If not, start here.

Show them how to seek miracles.

Serving a mission takes a lot of faith. There can be great miracles in store. Does your child know how to seek and expect miracles? Sometimes they are right under their nose and they have no idea. This is a great skill we can all learn, but it will help prepare your kids for a mission too.

Teach them how to resolve conflict.

Has your child ever had a hard time getting along with someone? Guess what? Living with several “strangers” from all over the world might create some conflict. Teach them how to deal with it in a healthy way.

Model kindness and compassion.

Going along with resolving conflict, we need to model kindness and compassion. We are sending out teenagers, after all! Emotions can be all over the place. We could all use more kindness and compassion!

Encourage them to read the Book of Mormon.

What do our kids do on a mission? They teach and testify of the Book of Mormon! So, how can they do that if they haven’t even read it? Surprisingly, this one gets forgotten, but it might just be the most important one!

If you want a couple free resources to help you prepare your kids for a mission, let me introduce you to a pro!

Jennie Dildine is “The LDS Mission Coach” and she has worked with thousands of missionaries and missionary moms! She created a great cheat sheet with 5 skills to prepare your missionary! She also has an AMAZING podcast for missionary moms, missionaries, leaders, etc. (She can even send the podcast episodes to your missionary on Google Drive so they can listen).

Check out her podcast right here!