How can we best help young children begin to understand how the Holy Ghost speaks?

Parents and leaders teach songs, prepare lessons, and even facilitate special experiences for children, like trips to temple grounds or temple open houses. However, President Camille Johnson says there is a step needed to help the message take root: we need to point out when we feel the Spirit around children.

“We spend a lot of time creating an environment where the Spirit can be present. … And oftentimes you can see almost a physical manifestation in the eyes of the children where you can tell they are feeling it … and then we don’t do anything with it. We don’t call it out and give it a name,” President Johnson said on an episode of the Latter-day Saint Women podcast.¹

“When we’ve worked hard to create an environment where the Spirit can be felt, let’s talk about what’s being felt. Let’s put a name on it so these children understand what they’re feeling. We create a reservoir of experiences with the Spirit from them to rely upon, frankly, for a lifetime.”

When Emily Kelly, author and a mother of four, heard President Johnson she “couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

The concept bounced around in Emily’s mind for a few days and then she had an idea—what if she wrote a book that would help children recognize the Holy Ghost?

“So one night after everybody was asleep, and the house was quiet, I just stayed up really late. Just fleshing it out and getting it out on the page,” she says.

The result is beautiful: The Holy Ghost and You is a charming, poetic book for children with warm, inviting illustrations by Sarah D. Newell. Each page talks about a different way someone might feel the Holy Ghost. Knowing people feel the Spirit differently is an important concept for young hearts.

“We often compare [the Holy Ghost] to a warm blanket, but if that is not how our children feel it, they might grow up thinking they have never experienced the Holy Ghost. Then they may enter Young Men and Young Women thinking, 'Oh, I’ve never felt the Spirit' when they have—they just didn’t know what it was,” Emily says.

Emily hopes this book will open ongoing conversations about the Holy Ghost between parent and child. As Elder Gary E. Stevenson has said, “becoming attuned to the language of the Spirit is like learning another language. It is a gradual process that requires diligent, patient effort.” Because of that, Emily feels it is important that children don’t feel pressured to understand the Spirit right away.

“I view my role as helping to expose my children to the language of the Spirit: I share my own experiences with them, and I try to point it out if I think they’re having an experience with the Holy Ghost,” Emily says.

“But then I also try to help them not feel pressured. I think we run the risk of them feeling anxious if they believe, ‘Oh, I have to feel the Spirit. I have to figure out what this feels like.’ So I try to reinforce to my children that this is a learning process that might take a while.”

While learning the language of the Spirit may be a lifetime pursuit, we are never too young to start. Emily majored in elementary education at Brigham Young University and sees parallels between teaching children to read and teaching them to recognize the Holy Ghost.

Emily’s university professors taught steps that lead to literacy: reading to your child, reading with your child, and then having the reading done by the child.

“I think that applies in teaching children about the Holy Ghost. You talk to the child about the Holy Ghost by telling them your experiences. Then you experience the Spirit with them by saying, ‘There’s a special spirit in this room. Do you feel this?’ And then the hope is that eventually, the child will be able to identify on their own when they’ve had an experience with the Holy Ghost,” Emily says.

President Johnson also emphasized teaching children about the Holy Ghost from an early age.

“I don’t think we should discount our children under eight [years old]. I think we [typically] start talking about the Spirit once they’ve been confirmed, [but] we know those younger children are feeling manifestations of the Spirit, are we talking to them about it?” she says.

“Are we saying, ‘How are you feeling when we sing ‘I am a Child of God?’” … I think we have to talk about what they’re feeling more.”

Pick up a copy of The Holy Ghost and You today and start conversations about the Holy Ghost in your home.

The Holy Ghost and You

When we’re baptized, we’re given the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide us in everything we do. But how does that work? How do we know when we’re being spoken to or guided? In The Holy Ghost and You, author Emily Kelly and illustrator Sarah D. Newell give answers to those questions in a soft and gentle tone, much like the Spirit itself. From feeling like a warm blanket to feeling like we’re being guided by a friendly hand, there are many ways that we can feel the Holy Ghost’s influence in our lives. It's vital that we learn how we best hear the Holy Ghost so that we can walk along the covenant path with His guidance. Available at Deseret Book and deseretbook.com.

More

Other articles about the Holy Ghost and teaching children:

▶ The golden question to ask yourself before teaching kids gospel lessons
▶ What does it mean to say ‘I know’ vs. ‘I believe’? One author’s insightful, comforting answer
▶ 6 spiritual questions your teens are sincerely asking—and how to answer them

Note

1. President Johnson was the Primary General President at the time of the podcast. She now serves as Relief Society General President.