Free family track · Small & Simple
Strength in the Lord
Five short family sessions on thoughts, stress, friendships, our bodies and leaning on the Savior. Adapted for families from the Church’s Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience course.
📌 When to get more help
- Everyone has hard days. If worry, sadness or unkind thoughts last for several weeks, or start getting in the way of school, home or friendships, it’s time to get help. Church Life Help ↗
- Talk with your doctor or a licensed counselor. Your bishop can also refer your family to Church Family Services counseling where it’s available. Family Services ↗
- If a child talks about hurting themselves, get help right away: call your local emergency number or go to the nearest emergency room. Church counseling resources ↗
- These sessions teach simple skills at home. They aren’t counseling or treatment. The full Church course ↗
Session 1: Healthy thinking
Our thoughts shape how we feel. In this session, the whole family learns to catch an unkind thought and trade it for a true one.
Family session about 20 minutes
Read Proverbs 23:7 and Doctrine and Covenants 6:36. Ask, “What do you think it means to look to Jesus in every thought?” 4 min
Print the Thought Detective pages. Read the six “thinking trap” cards out loud, then work together to match the example thoughts to their traps. 6 min
Play Help Sophie together on one screen. Help Sophie notice her thought, check whether it’s true, and find a better way forward. 5 min
Read John 8:32: the truth will make us free. Then practice “Catch, Check, Change.” Each person picks one thought, checks it with the three questions, and writes a truer thought. 5 min
Cut out the True Thought cards. Each person picks one to keep, and gives one to someone else in the family. 2 min
During the week
For your group
LittlePlay thumbs up, thumbs down. A parent says a thought (“I’m bad at everything”), and you show thumbs up or down. Then change the thumbs-down thoughts together.
MiddleFill in one row of “Catch, Check, Change” with a real thought from your week.
YouthOn your own phone, try Thought Swap and Rewrite It. Your answers stay private. For more, work through the Weak Things Life Lesson “Developing Healthy Thinking Patterns”.
AdultsRead the “Healthy Thinking Patterns” chapter of the Church’s Finding Strength in the Lord course, and fill in its Thinking Management Chart.
For parents When a child shares a hard thought, listen first and name the feeling (“That sounds really discouraging”). Then check the thought together. Healthy thinking isn’t pretending everything is fine; it’s seeing what’s really true.
Session 2: Stress, worry and anger
Everyone feels worried or angry sometimes. In this session, the family makes a plan for big feelings and learns to give our worries to the Lord.
Family session about 20 minutes
Read Matthew 11:28–30. Ask, “What does it feel like to carry something heavy? What does Jesus offer to do with it?” 3 min
Read the story “Jesus Stills the Storm” (Mark 4:35–41). Then play Peace, Be Still together on one screen. 6 min
Practice belly breathing: hand on your belly, breathe in for four like smelling a flower, and out for four like blowing out a candle. Do it five times. Then read Ephesians 4:26. Feeling angry isn’t a sin; what we do next matters. Fill in the Family Calm Plan together. 7 min
Make a worry box from any small box. Read 1 Peter 5:7, then each person writes or draws one worry on a slip and puts it in. Kneel and pray about them together. 4 min
During the week
For your group
LittleLie down with a stuffed animal on your tummy. Watch it rise and fall as you do belly breathing.
MiddleFill in your own row on the Family Calm Plan: your warning signs, your calm spot and what helps.
YouthOn your own phone, try When I Feel Anxious and My Water Bottle. Your answers stay private.
AdultsRead the course chapters “Managing Stress and Anxiety” and “Overcoming Anger.” Then read President Eyring’s talk “Fear Not, I Am with Thee” in Sketch Notes.
For parents Kids borrow our calm. When a child is upset, lower your voice, get down to their level, and breathe with them before you talk about what happened. Save the lesson for when everyone has cooled down.
Session 3: Friends and family
Strong relationships take kind words, honest apologies and good friends. In this session, the family practices all three.
Family session about 20 minutes
Read the story “Zacchaeus” (Luke 19:1–10). Ask, “How did Jesus treat someone other people didn’t like?” Then play Come Down, Zacchaeus together on one screen. 6 min
Play Healthy or Not? together. For each thing a friend might do, decide whether it’s healthy or not, and talk about why. 5 min
Read Proverbs 15:1. Print the Kind Words pages and act out the four Fix-It Steps. A parent plays the one who made a mistake first. 6 min
Talk through “When a friend is unkind”: stay calm, walk away, tell someone. Then cut out the Kind Word cards and hide one for each person to find. 3 min
During the week
For your group
LittleUse two stuffed animals to practice saying, “I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”
MiddleWrite a Kind Word card for a brother, sister or friend, and give it to them.
YouthWork through the Weak Things Life Lesson “Building Healthy Relationships” and think about one friendship you want to make stronger.
AdultsRead the course chapter “Building Healthy Relationships.” Then read Elder Stevenson’s talk “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” in Sketch Notes.
For parents The best way to teach an apology is to give one. When you get it wrong with a child, use the Fix-It Steps yourself. Also help children see the difference between unkind and unsafe: if someone keeps hurting them, pressures them to keep secrets or touches them in a way that feels wrong, they should always tell you.
Session 4: Body, sadness and habits
Our bodies and feelings are gifts from God. In this session, the family talks about sleep, screens and sad feelings, and picks one small habit to try.
Family session about 20 minutes
Read the story “The Temple of God” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Then play Your Body Is a Temple together on one screen. 6 min
Read John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” Talk about how sad is a normal feeling, and Jesus felt it too. Each person shares one thing that helps when they feel sad. 4 min
Play Time to Pause? together. Then print the Small Habit pages and fill in your family’s sleep and screen plan. 7 min
Read Doctrine and Covenants 88:124. Choose one small family habit for the next two weeks, like an earlier bedtime or a short walk, and color the first box on the tracker. 3 min
During the week
For your group
LittleMake happy, sad, mad and scared faces in a mirror. Talk about what each feeling looks like.
MiddleWrite your own bedtime routine on the back of the sleep and screen plan.
YouthOn your own phone, try Caring for My Temple and make My Technology Plan. Your answers stay private.
AdultsRead the course chapters “Our Bodies and Emotions” and “Understanding Sadness and Depression.” Then read Elder Kopischke’s talk “Addressing Mental Health” in Sketch Notes.
For parents Sadness is normal; sadness that lasts for weeks or gets in the way of daily life needs more help (see “When to get more help” at the top of this page). For parents only, the course chapter “Managing Addictive Behaviors” covers habits that are hard to stop. Talk with each teen privately about screens and habits, and keep the family conversation simple.
Session 5: Faith and helping others
The Lord strengthens us, and He sends us to strengthen each other. In this session, the family talks about trusting God when prayers aren’t answered the way we hoped, and learns to notice a friend who is struggling.
Family session about 20 minutes
Read Alma 36:3. Ask, “What can we do when things don’t go the way we prayed?” Share a time Heavenly Father helped you through something hard, even if He didn’t take it away. 4 min
Read Moroni 10:32. We don’t have to be perfect on our own; we come to Christ. Then play The Perfect Circle together on one screen. 5 min
Read Mosiah 18:8–9. Print the Strength Notes pages, read “Notice, Ask, Help,” and practice what you could say to a friend who seems sad. 6 min
Each person fills in one Strength Note for someone who could use a lift, and plans when to give it. 3 min
Finish the track with the Look Back review. Play it together to remember what you learned in all five sessions. 5 min
During the week
For your group
LittleDraw a picture for someone who might be sad, and give it to them with a parent.
MiddleFill in the “Someone I can strengthen this week” box and do what you wrote.
YouthOn your own phone, try Perfected in Him. Your answers stay private.
AdultsRead the course chapters “Providing Strength to Others” and “Moving Forward with Faith.” Then read Elder Holland’s talk “Waiting on the Lord” in Sketch Notes.
For parents Teach children that keeping a friend’s secret is kind, except when the secret is about someone getting hurt. Then the kind thing is to tell a trusted adult right away. Thank them when they do.
Keep going all year
Small & Simple gives your family a short plan for every week of Come, Follow Me, with the Game Shelf set to the reading.
Weak Things is a small family business. This track is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.