Bring Up Children in Light & Truth

Bring Up Children in Light & Truth: LT

D&C 93:40

Responsibility of Parents:

Provide Physically         D&C 83:4; Mosiah 4:14

Teach Gospel                D&C 68:25; Deuteronomy 4:10

Discipline                       D&C 121:41-44; Proverbs 19:18

Do not provoke              Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:4

Teach to serve & love   Mosiah 4:15

Set house in order:       D&C 93:50

Teach always                Deuteronomy 6:7 & 11:19

Family Scripture Study 2 Nephi 4:15; 25:26; Mosiah 1:4

Pray as a Family           3 Nephi 18:21

Teach of Atonement     Moses 6: 55-59; Mosiah 16:15

Pray for children            Mosiah 27:14; Moroni 8:3

No contention                Mosiah 4:14

Hope for generations     Psalms 78: 3-7

Responsibility of Children:

Honor Parents:              Deuteronomy: 5:16

Obey:                             Colossians3:20; Ephesians 6:1-3

Listen to instruction:      Proverbs 4:1

Promise:

Peace:                           Isaiah 54:13

Joy:                                3 John 1:4

Will not depart from Truth:  Proverbs 22:6

[President David O. McKay] taught us the most precious gift a man and woman can receive is a child of God, and that the raising of a child is basically, fundamentally, and most exclusively a spiritual process.

He directed us to basic principles we need to teach our children. The first and most important inner quality you can instill in a child is faith in God. The first and most important action a child can learn is obedience. And the most powerful tool you have with which to teach a child is love.          L. Tom Perry; April 1983, General Conference

Divine Nature

Understanding who these children are and their potential in God’s kingdom can help us have a greater desire to meet the challenges more patiently—more lovingly. The Lord will help us teach our children if we will do all that is within our power. Families are forever, and the Savior wants us to succeed. As we seek the Spirit, we can receive the comfort, guidance, and reassurance we need to fulfill the responsibilities and receive the blessings of parenthood.

Coleen K. Menlove; Oct. 2002, General Conference

What to Do

Love can make the difference—love generously given in childhood and reaching through the awkward years of youth. It will do what money lavished on children will never do.

—And patience, with a bridling of the tongue and self-mastery over anger. The writer of Proverbs declared, “A soft answer turneth away wrath” (Prov. 15:1).

—And encouragement that is quick to compliment and slow to criticize.

These, with prayers, will accomplish wonders. You cannot expect to do it alone. You need heaven’s help in rearing heaven’s child—your child, who is also the child of his or her Heavenly Father.

                Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1993, General Conference

Parents must try to be, or at least put forth their best efforts to be, what they wish the children to be. It is impossible for you to be an example of what you are not.

                Joseph Fielding Smith; Teachings Book, Ch 16, p 204

Dr. Nick Stinnett gave a most interesting talk at an annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations. It was titled “Characteristics of Strong Families.” His six points were:

1. A strong family spends a significant amount of time together while playing, working, eating, or in recreation. Although family members all have outside interests, they find adequate time to spend together.

2. Strong families have a high degree of commitment to each family member, as indicated not only by the time spent together, but also by their ability to work together in a common cause.

3. Strong families have good communication patterns, as indicated by the time spent listening and speaking to each other in conversation.

4. Strong families have a high degree of religious orientation.

5. Strong families have the ability to deal with crises in a positive way because they have spent time together, are committed to each other, and have good communication patterns.

6. Strong family members frequently give compliments to each other which are genuine and not superficial. (See “In Search of Strong Families,” in Building Family Strengths: Blueprints for Action, ed. Nick Stinnett, et al., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979, pp. 23–30.) 

                Quoted in talk by L. Tom Perry, April 1983; General Conf.

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.

                Jeffrey R. Holland; April 2003, General Conference

My counsel is to speak more frequently about Jesus Christ. In His holy name is great spiritual power. “There [is] no other name given nor any other way … whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ.”

                Neil L. Anderson; April 2010, General Conference+9

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations…

Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World; October 1995

Parents, safeguard your families. Bring up your children in light and truth as the Lord has commanded. Shower them with love, but do not spoil them. Share your testimony with them. Read the scriptures together. Guide and protect them. You have no greater blessing and no greater responsibility than those whom the Lord has placed in your care. Pray together. There is no substitute for family prayer when all kneel together before the Lord.           Gordon B. Hinckley, October 1999, General Conf.