FIRM BELIEVER

I am a strong believer in teaching children while in their youth…IN the home!  No parent is perfect in example or teaching.  But I believe whole heartedly that children listen.  They hear and see.  They take the good and the bad and file it away. Then when they are old enough, they sort through their knowledge of each lesson.  They take the good and bad, and all in between.  Then with free agency they make their own choices.  But not without influence. I know where I want most of my children’s influence to come from.  So I teach.  On a wing and a prayer, I teach.  I have a LOT to learn, but I still must teach.

My parents divorced when their oldest was 15 and their youngest was 8yrs.  Though our traditional family unit was broken at that point, my brothers and I look back now at what/how we were taught in our youth, and what roll those teachings played in our ability to resurface our sails of strength even when the roughest of waves tried to capsize our ships.  I know I can speak for my siblings when I say We are thankful for the examples and teachings that we were taught early on.  Both our parents gave us an anchor for the storms that were ahead of us, even they, not knowing one of our biggest and first storms would be from their own divorce...which has the ability to rock any child’s boat to the core.  

Because our parents (found) ability to teach us early,  The Lord was able to reach each of our hearts, when we as adolescents were sometimes at our lowest points.  We knew that He was there.  We each knew that He lived, and loved us.  We found strength in that knowledge.  Now having families of our own, we recognize teachings we learned in our youth and the principles that  govern them. 

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Children's Lives Are Shaped at Home

"Children are like trees. When they are young, their lives can be shaped and directed, usually with ever so little effort. Said the writer of Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it' (22:6). That training finds its roots in the home. There will be little of help from other sources. Do not depend on government to help in this darkening situation. Barbara Bush, wife of former United States president George Bush, spoke wisely when in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in 1990 she addressed the Wellesley College graduating class and said, 'Your success as a family, our success as society, depends not on what happens at the White House, but on what happens inside your house.' "

Gordon B. Hinckley