Saturday, April 23, 2011

Raising Children

Sister Joy D Jones, A Sin Resistant Generation, April 2017 General Conference
Helping children understand, make, and keep sacred covenants is another key in creating a sin-resistant generation.”
 ...
Teaching children to keep simple promises when they are young will empower them to keep holy covenants later in life.”
 ...
A succession of small, successfully kept promises leads to integrity.”


Tad R Callister “Parents: The Prime Gospel Teachers of Their Children” , October 2014 General  Conference
Elder Richard G. Scott, in Conference Report, Apr. 1993, 43; or Ensign, May 1993, 3430 And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord.My Thoughts on the above. We must read from the words God had revealed regularly to our children. 28 And they shall also ateach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.
{
Elder Jeffrey R Holland, A Prayer for the Children”, General Conference April 2003
Elder Steven R Bangerter, Laying the Foundation of a Great Work
...


"I remember my father stretched out by the fireplace, reading the scriptures and other good books, and I would stretch out by his side. I remember the cards he would keep in his shirt pocket with quotes of the scriptures and Shakespeare and new words that he would memorize and learn. I remember the gospel questions and discussions at the dinner table."
Enos 1:3
 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.


L Tom Perry, Finding Lasting Peace and Building Eternal Families, October 2014 General Conference
Fathers are personally involved in leading family prayers, daily scripture reading, and weekly family home evenings.


“Fathers build family traditions by being involved in helping plan vacation trips and outings that will involve all of the family members. Memories of these special times together will never be forgotten by their children.
“Fathers hold one-on-one visits with their children and teach them gospel principles.
“Fathers teach sons and daughters the value of work and help them establish worthy goals in their own lives.
“Fathers set an example of faithful gospel service.

You must be willing to forgo personal pleasure and self-interest for family-centered activity, and not turn over to church, school, or society the principal role of fostering a child’s well-rounded development. It takes time, great effort, and significant personal sacrifice to ‘train up a child in the way he should go.’ But where can you find greater rewards for a job well done?”
2 Chronicles 34:29-30
29 ¶Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

Children can not obey God if they don't know what he has said.
}


Elder David F Evans, Was It Worth It?, General Conference April 2012
"In this and every other important endeavor, our most important work is always within our own home and family.2 It is within families that the Church is established and real growth occurs.3"
...
We must be faithful ourselves so that they can see our example of love for the Lord and His Church.”
...
We help our children rely on the Savior’s Atonement and know the forgiveness of a loving Heavenly Father by showing love and forgiveness in our own parenting. Our love and forgiveness not only draw our children closer to us but also build their faith in knowing that Heavenly Father loves them and that He will forgive them as they strive to repent and do better and be better. They trust this truth because they have experienced the same from their earthly parents.”
...
"The work of naturally and normally sharing the gospel with those we care about and love will be the work and joy of our lives"

Sister Cheryl A Esplin, Teaching Our Children to Understand, General Conference April 2012
"If we are ready and will let the Spirit guide in these situations, our children will be taught with greater effect and understanding."

25 And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.

Live the gospel as conspicuously as you can. Keep the covenants your children know you have made. Give priesthood blessings. And bear your testimony!  Don’t just assume your children will somehow get the drift of your beliefs on their own.


Elder H. Burke Peterson, “Unrighteous Dominion”,  Ensign July 1989
"Reproving with sharpness means reproving with clarity, with loving firmness, with serious intent. It does not mean reproving with sarcasm, or with bitterness, or with clenched teeth and raised voice. One who reproves as the Lord has directed deals in principles, not personalities. He does not attack character or demean an individual.
"In almost every situation in which correction is required, private reproof is superior to public reproof. Unless the whole ward is in need of a reprimand, it is better for a bishop to speak to the individual rather than to use the collective approach. Similarly, a child or spouse has the right to be told privately of mistakes. Public correction is often cruel or, at the least, misguided."



Alma 5:47
 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.


C. C. Miller, “The Echo,” in Best-Loved Poems of the LDS People, ed. Jack M. Lyon and others (1996), 312–13
"’Twas a sheep not a lamb
That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:
They lead the lambs astray.
Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong,
It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when the sheep are lost
What a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay."


Doctrine and Covenants 121:41-44
41 No apower or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the bpriesthood, only by cpersuasion, by dlong-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

42 By akindness, and pure bknowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the csoul without dhypocrisy, and without eguile

43 aReproving betimes with bsharpness, when cmoved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of dlove toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of adeath.


 7Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings.

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

My Thoughts
{
We have to work hard to find opportunities to teach our children the things of God in everything we do with them.  On the way to the grocery store. While watching movies or sports. While they tell us about how their day, evening, or a date was.

If talking about spiritual things happens constantly, it will not be foreign or awkward to them when you have an urgent lesson you need to teach them.  It will likely make family home evenings, family scripture study, and so forth easier.

}
I believe that it is less a question of whether our children are ‘getting it’ in the midst of our teaching, such as while striving to read the scriptures or to have family home evening or to attend Mutual and other Church meetings. It is less a question of whether in those moments they are understanding the importance of those activities and more a question of whether we, as parents, are exercising faith enough to follow the Lord’s counsel to diligently live, teach, exhort, and set forth expectations that are inspired by the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is an effort driven by our faith—our belief that one day the seeds sown in their youth will take root and begin to sprout and grow.”
“The things we talk of, the things we preach and teach determine the things that will happen among us. As we establish wholesome traditions that teach the doctrine of Christ, the Holy Spirit bears witness of the truthfulness of our message and nourishes the seeds of the gospel that are planted deep in the hearts of our children by our efforts all along the way. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

No comments:

Post a Comment