Population
July 11th is World Population Day.
Apparently, on July 11, 1987, Matej Gaspar was proclaimed the five billionth person on the earth at his birth. One of my sons was obsessed a few months ago with the world population counter; he would watch it obsessively for quite some time (I found it quite fascinating myself). We are now counting 7 billion people worldwide. This in and of itself can spawn some great discussions with your children. Online you'll mostly find some negative aspects of population growth, but we can make it more positive for our children to understand this somewhat serious topic!
Here are some ideas on how to share this day with your family:
Read The Family: A Proclamation to the World and learn of the importance of having children and raising families.
Missionary Work. Use this number to get the attention of how important missionary work is as we are to spread the gospel to "every tongue and every nation." Compare numbers in regards to the growth of the Church. Elder Neil L. Anderson gives us some numbers in his most recent conference talk. You could also compare statistical reports for the last 40 years and chart them on a line graph (kids love graphs).
Debate the topic. What is Zero Population Growth (ZPG)? Have a one side of the family research reasons to support ZPG and another side to oppose the ideas proposed by this group. Have them check out what is happening in other countries who have limited birth laws. Watch out, things could get touchy!
The Among the Hidden series by Margaret Peterson Haddix will help put into perspective what could happen to a society when birthrates are limited. I loved this whole series!
Make it personal. What is the population of your city? What was the population when you were born?
Apparently, on July 11, 1987, Matej Gaspar was proclaimed the five billionth person on the earth at his birth. One of my sons was obsessed a few months ago with the world population counter; he would watch it obsessively for quite some time (I found it quite fascinating myself). We are now counting 7 billion people worldwide. This in and of itself can spawn some great discussions with your children. Online you'll mostly find some negative aspects of population growth, but we can make it more positive for our children to understand this somewhat serious topic!
Here are some ideas on how to share this day with your family:
Read The Family: A Proclamation to the World and learn of the importance of having children and raising families.
Missionary Work. Use this number to get the attention of how important missionary work is as we are to spread the gospel to "every tongue and every nation." Compare numbers in regards to the growth of the Church. Elder Neil L. Anderson gives us some numbers in his most recent conference talk. You could also compare statistical reports for the last 40 years and chart them on a line graph (kids love graphs).
Debate the topic. What is Zero Population Growth (ZPG)? Have a one side of the family research reasons to support ZPG and another side to oppose the ideas proposed by this group. Have them check out what is happening in other countries who have limited birth laws. Watch out, things could get touchy!
 |
| image from wikipedia.com |
The Among the Hidden series by Margaret Peterson Haddix will help put into perspective what could happen to a society when birthrates are limited. I loved this whole series!
Make it personal. What is the population of your city? What was the population when you were born?
Comments
Post a Comment