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Using LLL Publications to Enliven Meetings
by Laura Cunningham
Mission Viejo, California, USA
from LEAVEN, Vol. 33 No. 2, April - May 1997, p. 33
When you're pressed for time,
you may wish that a ready-made meeting outline would appear with the
snap of your fingers. Although that is wishful thinking, help may be
no farther away than your table or bookshelf. Two Leaders found creative
ways to use NEW BEGINNINGS and THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING.
Fortified Enrichment
For Lynne Coates of Eugene,
Oregon, USA finding fresh, interesting topics for Enrichment Meetings
was becoming troublesome. Then, just in time, NEW BEGINNINGS arrived
in her mail and she decided to use the magazine to shape the meeting
discussion.
Lynne chose one of the situations
in a regular question-and-answer column ("Toddler Tips," "Making It
Work," "Staying Home Instead") and asked mothers how they would
respond. Lynne and her co-Leader, Sue Scott, talked about what a Leader
might ask a mother who called with a similar situation as well as the
LLL resources she might use.
"This served the
double purpose of encouraging discussion and letting our Group helpers
know more about how Leaders help mothers," wrote Lynne in Patchwork
Page, Fall 1995.
If discussion is especially
rich, the Group's responses can be written down and sent to NEW BEGINNINGS
for possible publication. "What a thrill it would be to see the Group's
ideas published!" said Lynne.
In addition to providing
an "instant meeting" idea, Lynne and Sue found that using NEW BEGINNINGS
in Enrichment Meetings produced two other benefits:
- Enthusiasm increased at
Series Meetings when NEW BEGINNINGS was mentioned as a benefit of
membership. "Non-members can see the excitement others feel about
receiving our magazine," Lynne said.
- A review of the current
topics in NEW BEGINNINGS helps Leaders who no longer have nursing
babies stay focused on questions important to new mothers.
The Quotable WAB
When planning a meeting on
"The Advantages of Breastfeeding to Mother and Baby," Beverly Vaugh
of Austin, Texas, USA turned to THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING (WAB).
She and her co-Leaders found about 20 quotes illustrating the advantages
of breastfeeding. They wrote each on a separate piece of paper and added
a discussion question.
For example, the quote on
page 8:
When you breastfeed
your baby, you're providing him with the best possible infant food.
No product has ever been as time-tested as mother's milk. Breast milk
contains all the nutrients your newborn needs and is more easily digested
and assimilated than any other infant food. As reassuring as this is,
superior nutrition is only one of the many advantages you and your baby
gain from breastfeeding.
might be followed with the
question:
What advantage
of breastfeeding has been important to you?
At the meeting, Beverly briefly
explained how THE WOMANLY ART OF BREASTFEEDING is an important resource
for Leaders, mothers and anyone needing accurate, supportive information
on breastfeeding. Mothers were then invited to read aloud one of the
quotations and corresponding discussion questions. A few of the quotations
that were especially important to the meeting topic were marked with
stickers so that they would be sure to be included in the discussion.
But participation was voluntary and the meeting proceeded in a free-flowing
conversational style.
"One nice aspect of this
meeting idea," wrote Beverly in Ten-Gallon Tidings, Summer Fall
1994, "was that, although we did add clarifying statements once in a
while, no one Leader had to do a lot of talking and explaining since
the mothers themselves were reading the quotes and discussion questions."
Of course, using THE WOMANLY
ART OF BREASTFEEDING in this way is not limited to an "advantages" meeting.
Search Chapters 4, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12 for quotations applicable to
Meeting 2. Chapters l3-l5 for Meeting 4. Chapter 7 is a wealth of information
for Meeting 3.
After trying these meeting
ideas, you are bound to find other LLL publications that can be used
in similar ways. As a related benefit, you just might find that both
book and membership sales increase. So take those books and magazines
off the shelf, dust them off and make them part of your meetings!
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:03 UTC 2007.
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