Happy family

As parents, our job is to raise and teach our children.  One of the ways we can teach them is by example.  I tend to want to do it all for my children instead of letting them help me with meals or with projects.  Even though I can do it much quicker and less messy, the time we spend with our children is very precious.  It's though the time we spend with them, where our bonds form and our relationships strengthen.  They are not a burden, they are a blessing.

I am grateful to the example of my own loving mother who has taught me how to be a good mother and wife.  She is always patient and kind and even took the time to teach my friends how to be homemakers.

Below I have included a video that shares a recipe for a happy family.

What Matters Most is What Lasts Longest

In a talk given by Elder M. Russell Ballard he said,

"Crisis or transition of any kind reminds us of what matters most. In the routine of life, we often take our families—our parents and children and siblings—for granted. But in times of danger and need and change, there is no question that what we care about most is our families! It will be even more so when we leave this life and enter into the spirit world. Surely the first people we will seek to find there will be father, mother, spouse, children, and siblings."

Why wait until a crisis comes for us to realize how important our families are?  Work to mend those broken relationships now so when tragedy comes, we will already have a  strong bond with no regrets.  There is nothing more important in this life then our families.   

Blessings of a family council

Daily chores and help around the house seem to be a source of arguments at our house so I have been looking for ways to take the complaining out of the equation.  I found a quote by Elder Ballard about family councils that has given me a way to try to change the way we run our family. 
He said,“A council is when parents let their children help solve the problem. And when everyone agrees to a solution, everyone will have ownership of the problem. If I tell the family, ‘You go out and pull the weeds,’ there may be complaining or hurt feelings. But if I can help them to feel, ‘We all decided this,’ then the family council is truly working. Before you know it, family members will be organizing themselves, saying, ‘You do this and I’ll do that.’ That’s the power of a council.”
We were trying to tell our children what they needed to do to help around the house instead of asking them to help us solve the problems that needed to be done.  We have to give our children the opportunity to solve problems and feel apart of the decision making.  It is important for our children to feel like they are needed and that their opinions are important to us.  This will help them when they leave home to serve missions, go to college, or even get married.  The most important lessons they will learn are within the walls of our homes.