RS Lesson Summary- August 10th 2014

On Sunday Sister Walter gave us a wonderful lesson on teaching our children. The lesson is from Joseph Fielding Smith's Teachings of the Presidents of the church, #16: Bringing up our Children in Light and Truth. The lesson can be found here.
Sister Walter opened the lesson with this quote from President Faust: (October 1990 General Conference) "I feel moved upon to discuss a subject which I have chosen to call the greatest challenge in the world.  It has to do with the privilege and responsibility of being good parents.  In my opinion, the teaching , rearing, and training of children requires more intelligence, intuitive understanding, humility, strength, wisdom, spirituality, perseverance, and hard work than any other challenge w might have in life".  ( "The Greatest Challenge in the World- Good Parenting,")

What is the greatest challenge in the world? Parenting. Why? It requires the very best of what we have to give. What help does the Lord offer? Scriptures, Revelation, Prayer, the Spirit. 

We watched a video from Elder Hales entitled: Touching the Hearts of our Youth. You can view the video 

here.  

We need to truly understand the hearts and minds of our children. We need to put aside quality time to spend with them free of distractions and interference. We need to let our children talk, and we simply listen.

Sister Walter asked us, how do we organize ourselves better so that we can spend more time with our children?

Some answers from the RS: Use scripture study and prayer time to manage our day. If we start off with the scriptures and prayer on a personal level, we will be better prepared and more organized. Other sisters mentioned that the 'schedule' is not what is important. Taking the time to fill a need with our children is the priority. Children will grow up, take the time now to play and engage with them, the chores and other things can wait. Build relationships while they are young, so they will continue to talk to you and trust you when they are older.

Another sister mentioned that you can share the housework with your kids, teaches them to work, and allows them time to talk to you while you complete tasks. WIN WIN!

Page 209 in the lesson: There are eight things that President Joseph Fielding Smith felt were important to focus on with our children. We talked about 5 of these topics: Scripture Study, Prayer, FHE, Teaching them when young, and Teaching chastity. 

Scripture Study. Sister Walter mentioned that in her home growing up the scriptures and other materials were always readily available. We shouldn't hide our scriptures on a shelf. She said in her home her mother had a basket on the table with the scriptures and a new era or other magazine. (Brilliant way to get kids to pick them up when they are at the table)

In the lesson it talks about bringing the scriptures to life, creating interest with our children so they personally connect with the stories in the scriptures and apply them to their lives. How do you engage your children in scripture study? Several sisters shared their experiences working scripture study into their daily routines. Some mentioned they made an effort to study briefly with their children morning and night. 

Next we discussed FHE. Sister Walter gave this quote: President Faust said, "I wonder if having casual and infrequent family home evening will be enough in the future to fortify our children with sufficient moral strength.  Where in the world will the children learn chastity, integrity, honesty, and basic human decency if not at home?"  ("The Greatest Challenge in the World- Good Parenting,")

Some planning of FHE is important! It's okay to have an activity planned, but the heart and soul of FHE is the teaching of church doctrine. President Kimball said, 'there must be a spiritual element to family home evening.'

A great way to have successful FHE is to have your children be involved in some way. Sister Walter mentioned that for older children the New Era has fun object lessons they can use to help teach principles of the gospel. 

Prayer.  Teach Children to Pray:  President Faust said, "A few years ago, Bishop Stanley Smoot was interviewed by President Spencer W. Kimball.  President Kimball asked, "How often do you have family prayer?" Bishop Smoot answered, "We try to have family prayer twice a day, but we average about once."

President Kimball answered, "In the past, having family prayer once a day may have been all right.  But in the future it will not be enough if we are goin to save our families".

Family prayer is vital. Make a habit of praying with your families twice a day.

How do we teach age appropriate topics? (Teaching them young) As a parent you teach them in phases and topics that work with their ages, and add on more as their understanding grows.

Teaching Chastity.  Sister Walter referenced an old study by BYU entitled 'Protecting Purity'. 

Teach Virtue, Chastity, and Morality  http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=1289

 Brief summary of the study:  Study of 5000 LDS youth found that attending church (and activities) surfaced as the most important influence in helping youth stay morally strong.  Private religious behavior (personal prayer, scripture reading, testimony) was also important.

They studied lots of family factors.  The only one to emerge as significant in the study was a mother's regulation (setting curfews, agreeing on rules, etc.)

"Three foundational directives for parents and youth leaders:

1)increase the spirituality of the youth 2)fortify young women  3) strengthen family ties.

"These 3 things may seem overly simplistic, yet they have proven again and again to be powerful tools in helping youth remain morally clean in a morally corrupt world".

We are greatly blessed to be parents. It is important that we fortify ourselves in these last days against the world. Luckily there are lots of things we can do to strengthen our children and homes.