Dating

Objective: To help children understand the purpose of dating and to encourage the appropriate type of dating for different stages in life.

Opening Song: We Are One, Youth Music

Closing Song: Treat Everyone with Love, Youth Music

*The songs for this lesson are not the typical sing-a-long type of music. For younger children, instead of singing, dancing along might be fun. For older children, instead of singing read the lyrics. (Which can be found on the Sacred Music app.) These songs encourage being kind to others and finding commonalities, both important aspects of dating.

Younger Children:

• Ask your children, "Do you know what a "date" is?" Explain that a "date" is when a boy and a girl does an activity together to get to know each other better. Explain that when they are teenagers they will have the opportunity to date. (If your family has decided on a specific age, share that with your children.)
• Young children love hearing stories. If you are married, share the memories you have of your first date with your spouse. To make it extra fun for the children, consider acting out certain aspects of your first date. (i.e. If your spouse rang the doorbell to pick you up, if a car door was opened for you, if you went golfing, etc.) If you are not married, share a story of a fun date you have experienced.
• Help your children understand that dating is FUN and something to look forward to. It helps us get to know a person better, and once we are old enough, to see if we want to marry that person. 
• Role play certain aspects your child will do once they are old enough to date. (For example boys could practice opening doors for their date, girls could practice saying "thank you.")

Older Children:

• Ask your children the following questions to understand what they comprehend about dating:
• What is a date?
• What is the difference between dating and hanging out?
• What is the purpose of dating?
• Read the following quote,
• "A date is a planned activity that allows a young man and a young woman to get to know each other better...it can help you learn and practice social skills, develop friendships, have wholesome fun, and eventually find an eternal companion." (For the Strength of Youth: Dating, 4.) 
• Help your children to understand that dating in teenage years is meant to be fun and help learn necessary social skills. Dates should be simple, inexpensive, in groups (not to be confused with hanging out in groups), and follow the standards set by church leaders. 
• Share your own personal experiences with dating- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Your children will enjoy hearing your experiences, especially the awkward ones. This will help them understand that you are a real human being and not just their parent, but also create a closer bond with your child.  

Additional Resources:

• Dating versus Hanging Out, by Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, June 2006.
• For the Strength of Youth: Dating
• New Era, April 2010 (This issue has many articles for the youth on dating.)
• The Do's and Don'ts of Dating, New Era, February 2020.

Useful Tips for all lessons:

• I love to use the Sing-Along app on my ipad/phone. It contains all the church Hymns and Children's songs in sing-along format with words and a moving ball for the timing. There are pictures that go along with each song, or you can customize the songs with your own pictures. It's a wonderful, easy app that I LOVE! Another benefit is the ability to make a Playlist in the app. I will quickly make a Playlist of particular songs I am using for a lesson so I don’t have to waste time searching for them during the lesson. It’s great!

• I also frequently use the Sacred Music App on my devices. It’s nice to have the choice of sheet music, words, or both for each song. I also use the Playlist feature to make songs easily accessible during lessons, as mentioned for the app above. 

• Last, but definitely not least, is the Media App. I use this when I am searching for a particular picture or video to help emphasize my lesson topic. Probably my favorite feature of this app is the ability to edit videos. So if I just want to use part of a talk given by a General Authority, then I can cut out the rest and have the succinct clip I need for my lesson. It really is the best! I also like the ability to put together “Presentations” in the “My Media” section of the app. I can save any media I want to use for a particular lesson and it’s all right there ready for me during the lesson.