I will strengthen thee; I will help thee

In a talk given by Sister Barbara Thompson to the women of the church, she teaches us simply what our children need from us.

"Dear sisters, love and nurture your children. Tell them you love them. Put your arms around them. Appropriate physical affection will accomplish miracles. Express kind words. Show them by example how to work. Teach them to pray. President James E. Faust said, “Praying together as a family is a bonding experience. Younger children can learn how to pray as they hear the prayers of their parents and older siblings. … Individual prayer and family prayer are indispensable to personal and family happiness.”¹

Read to your children. Read from the scriptures. Help them learn that the scriptures will guide them throughout their entire lives. Have family home evening with them. Let them know that family time together is very important to you.

Children are generally very accepting of their parents and the mistakes parents make. They often forgive, forget, and move on much more quickly than adults do. Don’t feel guilty. Apologize when you have made a mistake. Seek the child’s forgiveness. Change your ways and move on.

Remember that it takes a lot of patience to raise a child. As precious as they are, children can be exasperating, frustrating, and sometimes even naughty. It takes a tremendous amount of patience and restraint in order to avoid doing or saying things we will later regret. Sometimes parents need to put themselves in “time-out” in order to avoid making serious mistakes. Removing yourself from the room for a minute in order to regain control is often very helpful.

No better advice can be found than that given in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”

We only have our children for a few short years before they go out into the world on their own.  The most important things they will learn come from us and what is taught in our homes.  How we treat them, teach them, and love them, will determine who they will become and how strong they will be.  

It's hard to be a parent, in fact one of the hardest yet most rewarding jobs we will ever have, but it will bring us the most joy and fulfillment. Our children are a blessing from God and He has entrusted them to us for a short time.  Our job is to make sure we give them the best tools we can so they can gain their own testimonies and have the ability to get through their trials stronger.

I am grateful for the tools that I have been given by a loving Heavenly Father.