Spiritual Feeding

We attending a Parent Fireside on Friday night at the direction of our Stake Presidency. The Stake Presidency wanted to speak to parents of children ages 1 and up - which is pretty much everyone. I could always use some parenting help, so I didn't think twice about going.

We were asked to take notes, and luckily, I already planned on doing that and was prepared! President Carter had emailed his three grown daughters who were faithful, devout LDS members, married in the temple, and were generally "good" kids. He asked them what was it that their parents did that helped them become the people they were today. They all wrote to him, giving details they remembered during the course of their childhood. He read to use what they wrote, telling us how we could be better parents in raising our children up in the gospel.

Some of the things he said that impacted and even surprised me were:
1). At age 14-16, most kids make the decision if they are going to stay active in the church or not
2). If your youth is involved in a steady relationship or consistently dating one person, 70-80% will transgress teh law of chastity in some way or another. This is true EVEN IF they are dating a church member - sad, isn't it?
3.) Our youth have to have consistent developing testimonies that begin at an early age if they are to make good decisions. How do we do this? Give them Spiritual Experiences! Teach them how the Spirit works.

Well, I don't know about you, but I've been feeling the weight of this heavy responsibility in raising our Heavenly Fathers children. I feel very inadequate, and even at a loss at how to possibly do all of this and do it right so that I will give my daughter all the the knowledge she needs to make good decisions and stay in the Gospel.

But, parenting is a heavy responsibility and shouldn't be taken lightly. I am happy to have the opportunity to raise a daughter and hope that I can learn to be a good parent. I take my job as a parent very seriously and am so saddened when I think of all that the youth today are faced with and I know things will be far worse when Peyton is older. I know I can't be the kind of parent I want to be and need to be without the help of my Heavenly Father and I know that I can call on him when I don't know which way to turn. For that I am ever grateful.

There are about 30 things that President Carter said we need to do as parents. This is too much to list here, but I'm going to post in a list on my Blog homepage. I hope you Enjoy!