rear children in love and righteousness

"Mothers who know are always teachers. Since they are not babysitters, they are never off duty. A well taught friend told me that he did not learn anything at church that he had not already learned at home. His parents used family scripture study, family home evening, mealtimes, and other family gatherings to teach. Think of the power of our future missionary force if mothers considered their homes as a pre-missionary training center. Then the doctrines of the gospel taught in the MTC would be a review and not a revelation."
(Julie Beck, Mothers Who Know, p. 76, Ensign Nov. 2007.)

So far the best years of my life have been my years as a hands-on mother. I loved it--I hated it. I had many successes and many failures. I had joy and tears. But mostly I learned to love teaching the gospel to my children.

I wanted them to learn that although life is hard, they have a loving Father in Heaven to help them along the way. And as long as I'm on the earth, I'll always be there for them. I wanted them to learn the value of and to love hard work. I wanted them to love the gospel and attempted to teach this during school devotionals, Family Home Evening, Scripture Study, and Prayer, as well as informal discussions. I wanted them to understand the importance of fasting and personal prayer, and how these can help one see the Lord's hand in one's life. I wanted them to have a testimony of the restoration of Christ's gospel and the Book of Mormon. I wanted to teach them to follow rules honestly and sincerely and to understand that obedience and disobedience have consequences.

I won't say I was perfect, but only that I had a vision of what could be and a strong desire to reach it. Sometimes I fell into using Satan's plan of force to accomplish my goals. At these times, I got resistance and rebellion. A heart filled with gentleness, meekness, and love-unfeigned is the key to gaining cooperation and true learning from children. "Parents have a 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 one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live."

"And, ye fathers [and mothers], provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents. For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized. And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands. And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord." Doctrine and Covenants 68:25-28

Some resources we used that were quite good were:

Lots and lots of classic children's literature.

Robert and Sandra Hales - A Standard Unto My People

Scripture Study for Latter-Day Saint Families series by Dennis. H. Leavitt and Richard O. Christiansen

The New Testament for Latter-Day Saint Families by Thomas Valletta (Editor) and all the rest in the series.

Our Latter Day Hymns: The Stories and the Messages, hymn books, and recorded hymns also Primary songs that the children were learning in Primary

Other fun and inspiring materials did we used were A Hive of Busy Bees, Another Hive of Bees, Wisdom and the Millers, Prudence and the Millers, Beautiful Girlhood, Beyond Boyhood, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens (better before teenage years), Stories to Tell, and others.

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