Parenting

            It is a sad thing to see, but in today’s society being a parent is just not the priority that it once was. People are more worried about traveling the world, having careers, or other things that kids might get in the way of. Everyone just puts it off, and says that they might have kids later, and they might not. Sadly, when they have this mentality a lot of the time it never ends up happening. When this happens, they miss out of the amazing experience that it is to have children, and that family unit. In class this week we talked about some of the benefits of being a parent, and I am going to focus on a couple of them for this post.

            Learning to problem solve. I don’t think that there is a single parent in all of history that would tell you that parenting is easy. It doesn’t come with a how-to guide, you have experiences that you never had to go through before, and for some people they have to go through it alone. There are going to be things that you haven’t had to deal with before, and so you may not know exactly how to handle them. Knowing what to do in these situations is an amazing gift, and is one that will help you throughout your entire life. Your children are going to throw things at you, or ask you questions that you need to respond to in the moment. You can’t ask them to hold on a second while you go look up what to do in a parenting book. You need to know how to respond to these things in the moment they happen. Learn to work with your spouse, and the two of you together can figure out a solution to the problem.

            Having kids will bring joy into your life like you have never known before. I have new parents say countless times that having kids filled a whole in their hearts that they didn’t even know was there. The very first time they laid eyes on their newly born child, they realize they didn’t know it was even possible to love someone that much. As they grow older they will develop their own interests and hobbies, and you will have joy in watching them develop themselves. It won’t be easy to see them grow up, but you will be so proud of them, and the people they have become.

            Having children is one of the most sacred responsibilities we will have in this life. Our Father in Heaven is trusting us with His spirit sons and daughters. He is trusting us to raise them right, and to teach them the gospel. If we don’t teach them these things, then they will have to learn them for themselves (if they choose to do so), and will miss out on so many blessings that they would have obtained earlier in life. When we teach the gospel to others, we learn it so much more powerfully for ourselves.

            In class we talked a lot about how the Book of Mormon ties into parenting. My professor said a quote that I loved, “The book of Mormon is not a history of the people, it is a history of a family.” Think of exactly what that is saying. The very first verse of the Book of Mormon starts off with a boy saying that he was raised of goodly parents. There are countless examples of parents teaching and guiding their children throughout the Book of Mormon. If we turn to it and follow the examples given in it, we can’t ever go wrong.