BECOMING GOODLY PARENTS Summary

182rd Semi-Annual General Conference of 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  

Saturday afternoon, 6 October 2012

Key Doctrines and Principles: 

Elder Perry delineated that the culture of the church is a culture of families and individuals living and working together for the best good and ultimate happiness of all of God’s children. He taught five distinct ways for “goodly parents who are entrusted with the care and development of Heavenly Father’s children” to achieve and “create stronger family cultures:

First, parents can pray in earnest, asking our Eternal Father to help them love, understand, and guide the children He has sent to them.

Second, they can hold family prayer, scripture study, and family home evenings and eat together as often as possible, making dinner a time of communication and the teaching of values.

Third, parents can fully avail themselves of the Church’s support network, communicating with their children’s Primary teachers, youth leaders, and class and quorum presidencies. By communicating with those who are called and set apart to work with their children, parents can provide essential understanding of a child’s special and specific needs.

Fourth, parents can share their testimonies often with their children, commit them to keep the commandments of God, and promise the blessings that our Heavenly Father promises His faithful children.

Fifth, we can organize our families based on clear, simple family rules and expectations, wholesome family traditions and rituals, and “family economics,” where children have household responsibilities and can earn allowances so that they can learn to budget, save, and pay tithing on the money they earn.”

 Favorite Quotes:

  “The sanctity of marriage and the central importance of families . . . [are] prime targets of the adversary. . . . They provide an anchor and the safe harbor of a home where each child of a loving Heavenly Father can be influenced for good and acquire eternal values.”

From letter to mother, “You always found time to take the family into the canyon, and we could count on you to do anything from climbing mountains to playing ball with us. You and Dad were never going on vacations alone. The family was always with you.”

“The joining together of a man and a woman to be legally and lawfully wed not only is preparation for future generations to inherit the earth, but it also brings the greatest joy and satisfaction that can be found in this mortal experience. This is especially true when the powers of the priesthood proclaim a marriage to be for time and for all eternity. Children born to such marriages have a security that is found nowhere else.”

“The onslaught of wickedness against our children is more subtle and brazen than it has ever been. Building a strong family culture adds another layer of protection for our children, insulating them from worldly influences.”

So What?

Parents (and those that support parents) are entrusted with a sacred duty to teach the children of God true principles and values. Elder Perry taught, “As parents we partner, even join, with God in bringing to pass His work and glory among His children. It is our sacred duty to do our very best.”  Joseph Fielding Smith said we must “begin by teaching at the cradle-side. You are to teach by example as well as precept.”

“The proclamation on the family says:

‘Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. ‘Children are an heritage of the Lord’ (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. …

“… By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.’ 

'The Family: A Proclamation to the World,' Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2010, 129."