"O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea: Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me," Isaiah 48:18-19.
As I read in the 20th chapter of 1st Nephi, I felt the hope laced with frustration that Nephi must have felt. In this place, he read what is now Isaiah 48 to his family including his brothers, sisters, and extended relatives. Many didn't follow the commandments as they should. When Isaiah wrote these, he prophesied of the events surrounding the captivity and later release of the Children of Israel and Babylon.
Reading and likening these verses to myself, I feel pretty down. I can see how my hasty, angry, fear-based behaviors as a young parent, ruined our chances for peace at home, stifled our increase, and even bred apostasy. Sometimes I just want to stand on a worldwide stage and plead with young families to open their eyes. Time is so short to perform parenting duties. There is no place to work things out. In fact the best way to work out our issues or put down our baggage is success and joy and happiness with our own children. Force and anger should NEVER be part of the equation but only gentleness, persuasion, long-suffering, meekness, charity (Christ's pure love), and inspiration from the Holy Ghost. Certainly, we must teach and guide children, but this should be done after prayerful consideration, words of God from scripture, and inspiration. Hasty mistakes destroy relationships, but charity and inspiration build.