Parenting

Parenting is another topic I need much more education in! I focused this topic more about motherhood, and related it a little bit more to myself. I loved learning about the optimistic view of motherhood. It seems as though my culture teaches me that motherhood is more of a hobby, or a plan B if college or a good career doesn't work out. The latter-day Prophets really emphasize the role of mothers and how important it is. I have found that even in my own education, I have had to limit my credits so that my children and family stay my first priority. I put the quote from the Proclamation to the World in, even though it is not by a specific person, because it simply defines what parents should be doing and the sacred nature of it. I'm glad the church so specifically outlines what parents should look like and how they should act.

Here are the other quotes I have found:

In The Proclamation to the World we read, "Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.""Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children... Parents have sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve on another..."

Elder Holland gives a "parable of the homemade shirt." He relays a shirt he once wanted in a window of a high-end store. His mother, very frugal, said she would try to make an identical one for him. She was wise and efficient and sewed up a shirt very close tot he mock-up. Elder Holland said that her only wish would to have an actual pattern. If someone were to try to make another shirt from the one his mother had made, the imperfections would be magnified. after many attempts, the shirt pattern would be more and more flawed.So it is with our families. If we do not have a righteous pattern to follow, after many generations our families and marriages will fail.

I often wonder how I am going to be able to raise children in our world filled with so much evil and adversity. It scares me to think about my two children going into the real world (or just public school) and hearing and seeing things I've been shunning them away from.I found my answer from President Packer. He said, "You can because you can be guided and you can teach your children to be guided."Is it really that simple? Of course.

In the TOLP Chapter 1 I learned from John Taylor that revelation is the foundation of our religion. Through guidance from the Lord, I, as a mother, will know what to do and know how to protect my children. I will know how to teach them.Families are the greatest importance here on Earth. It is the bonds and support we receive from our family that can assure us of Eternal Life. I am grateful for my family. I love each member and love how Heavenly Father has sent certain members to us to help me and Dustin.President Monson spoke about a few key principles that will strengthen our families:
1. Pattern of Prayer
2. Library of Learning
3. Legacy of Love
4. A yearning for Home

I feel overwhelmed at the responsibilities I have. I also feel overjoyed and blessed.



Sister Hinckley has said this about motherhood:

“It is the mothers of young children I would like to address first. These are golden years for you. These are years when you will probably do the most important work of your lives. Don’t wish away your years of caring for small children. Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans. This is a time of great opportunity for you to build the kingdom. When you teach children to love their Heavenly Father, you have done one of the greatest things you will ever do. If you can be a full-time homemaker, be grateful. If not, you must do what is best for you. I for one have never felt a need to apologize for my role as a full-time homemaker.

“These are busy, busy days for you. I have seen women in all kinds of circumstances—Chinese women working on road repairs, European women working in the fields, Asian women sweeping streets—but it is my opinion that … Mormon women are among the hardest working women in the world. They plant gardens and they bottle the produce; they sew and bargain shop. They go on the heart fund drive. They take dinners to new mothers and the sick in their neighborhoods. They take care of aged parents. They climb Mount Timpanogos with Cub Scouts, go to Little League games, sit on the piano bench while Jennie practices, do temple work, and worry about getting their journals up-to-date. My heart bursts with pride when I see them come into church on Sunday, some as early as 8:30 in the morning, their children all clean and shiny, their arms loaded with supplies, as they head for classes where they teach other women’s children. They scrub their houses with little or no domestic help and then try to be the glamour girl in their husband’s life when he arrives home at night. But remember, my dear young friends, that you are now doing the work that God intended you to do. Be grateful for the opportunity” (“Building the Kingdom from a Firm Foundation,” in Mary E. Stovall and Carol Cornwall Madsen, eds., As Women of Faith: Talks Selected from the BYU Women’s Conferences, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989, p. 5).

President Packer warned the youth, "You are being raised in enemy territory with a declining standard of morality."

Elder Nelson (April 1999) said, "You young men need to know that you can hardly achieve your highest potential without the influence of good women, particularly your mother and, in a few years, a good wife. Learn now to show respect and gratitude. Remember that your mother is your mother. She should not need to issue orders. Her wish, her hope, her hint should provide direction that you would honor. Thank her and express your love for her. And if she is struggling to rear you without your father, you have a double duty to honor her... Honor the special sisters in your lives, brethren. Express your love to your wife, to your mother, and to the sisters. Praise them for their forbearance with you even when you are not at your best. Thank the Lord for these sisters who—like our Heavenly Father—love us not only for what we are but for what we may become. Humbly I thank God for my mother, my sisters, my daughters, granddaughters, and for my special sweetheart, companion, and friend—my wife!"

In October, 2008, President Uchdorf said of motherhood, "If you are a mother, you participate with God in His work of creation—not only by providing physical bodies for your children but also by teaching and nurturing them. If you are not a mother now, the creative talents you develop will prepare you for that day, in this life or the next."

President Monson (April 1997), "I counsel you to honor your father and your mother. May I share with you an example of honoring one’s mother. Some years ago Ruth Fawson, mother of six, underwent life-threatening surgery. Her devoted husband and her three sons and three daughters were all at the hospital. The physicians and nurses explained to the family that they could return to their homes and that the staff was prepared to care adequately for Sister Fawson. The family expressed their thanks to the hospital staff but indicated a determination for at least one of its number to be present at all times. A daughter expressed the feelings of all: “We wanted to be there when Mother awakened and stretched forth her hand, so that it would be our hands she would grasp, it would be our smiles she would see, it would be our words she would hear, it would be our love she would feel.” “Honour thy father and thy mother.”

President Hinckley boldly stated, "It is well-nigh impossible to be a full-time homemaker and a full-time employee."

Elder Packer (Oct 1993) said, "The First Presidency counseled that 'the mother who entrusts her child to the care of others, that she may do non-motherly work, whether for gold, for fame, or for civic service, should remember that "a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame" (Prov. 29: 15) In our day the Lord has said that unless parents teach their children the doctrines of the Church "the sin be upon the heads of the parents."
"That message and warning from the First Presidency is needed more, not less, today than when it was given (in 1942). And no voice from any organization of the Church on any level of administration equals that of the First Presidency."

Elder Scott (April 1993), "President Benson has taught that a mother children should be in the home. He also said, 'We realize... that some of our choice sisters are widowed and divorced and that others find themselves in unusual circumstances where, out of necessity, they are required to work for a period of time. But these instances are the exception, not the rule' You in these unusual circumstances qualify for additional inspiration and strength from the Lord. Those who leave the home for lesser reasons will not,."