LDS Quotes on Parenting
“Several years ago at general conference, Elder Joe J. Christensen reminded us that “parenting is not a popularity contest.” In the same spirit, Elder Robert D. Hales has observed, “Sometimes we are afraid of our children—afraid to counsel with them for fear of offending them.”
| "Courageous Parenting"
“We urge you to do all in your power to allow your wife to remain in the home, caring for the children while you provide for the family the best you can.”
| Ensign, November 1994, p. 51
It is hard to understand all the reasons why some people take another path. The best we can do in these circumstances is just to love and embrace them, pray for their well-being, and seek for the Lord’s help to know what to do and say. Sincerely rejoice with them in their successes; be their friends and look for the good in them. We should never give up on them but preserve our relationships. Never reject or misjudge them. Just love them!
“If we are worried about the future, then we must look today at the upbringing of children.”
| Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes
“We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church. The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place or fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility.
We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform.”
| Feb. 11, 1999; quoted in Handbook 2: Administering the Church (2010), 1.4.1.
“There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.”
“My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all – the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would be, and much less about what we would do.”
“You should express regularly to your wife and children your reverence and respect for her. Indeed, one of the greatest things a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”
“Being a father or a mother is not only a great challenge, it is a divine calling. It is an effort requiring consecration. President David O. McKay stated that being parents is “the greatest trust that has been given to human beings.”
| The Greatest Challenge in the World—Good Parenting