Parenting

“Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, … to teach them to love and serve one another.”

“The Family: A Proclamation To The World”

 

“My plea—and I wish I were more eloquent in voicing it—is a plea to save the children. Too many of them walk with pain and fear, in loneliness and despair. Children need sunlight. They need happiness. They need love and nurture. They need kindness and refreshment and affection. Every home, regardless of the cost of the house, can provide an environment of love which will be an environment of salvation.”                                                                                                                                    - Gordon B Hinckley

                                                                       

Three Approaches to Parenting

 

Parenting approaches often fall into one of these categories: authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative.

 

Authoritarian. “Authoritarian parents attempt to shape, control, and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of the child in accordance with a set standard of conduct.” In their attempts to guide the behavior of a child, these parents do not invite the child to participate in a discussion of rules and expectations, “believing that children should accept parents’ word for what is right.” These parents value firm control of their children’s behavior, and they often show little warmth. They rarely encourage their children to express their feelings or point of view, particularly in disciplinary situations.

 

Permissive. Permissive parents usually show warmth and love toward their children but offer little guidance or direction. They “attempt to behave in a nonpunitive, accepting, and affirmative manner. … They present themselves as resources to be used as their children wish, not as active agents responsible for shaping or altering their children’s ongoing or future behavior. They allow their children to regulate their own activities as much as possible, avoid the exercise of control, and do not insist that their children obey externally defined standards.” These parents “avoid the use of overt power” but may attempt to regulate their children’s behavior in less obvious ways. They avoid confrontations.

 

Authoritative. Authoritative parents show the same high expectations for their children as authoritarian parents, but they also show a high degree of warmth and responsiveness. They are loving and supportive. As they guide their children, they “encourage verbal give and take and share with their children the reasoning behind their policies.” These parents “exert firm control at points of parent-child divergence but do not hem in their children with restrictions. Authoritative parents are demanding in that they guide their children’s activities firmly and consistently and require them to contribute to family functioning by helping with household tasks. They willingly confront their children in order to obtain conformity, state their values clearly, and expect their children to respect their norms.” In her studies over several decades, psychologist Diana Baumrind found that children raised in authoritative homes were most likely to be socially confident, friendly, self-disciplined, cooperative, and achievement oriented.¹⁵

 

 

Principles for Successful Parenting

 

“Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”

 

 

There is this song I grew up listening and singing, it’s called ‘Love is Spoken Here’

 

Lyrics                          

 

I see my mother kneeling with our family each day.

I hear the words she whispers as she bows her head to pray.

Her plea to the Father quiets all my fears,

And I am thankful love is spoken here.

 

Mine is a home where ev’ry hour is blessed by the strength of priesthood pow’r,

With father and mother leading the way,

Teaching me how to trust and obey;

And the things they teach are crystal clear,

For love is spoken here.

 

This is one of my favorite topics and parenting has bought so much joy and peace in my life. I have enjoyed every moment of it.

 

Source:

 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/strengthening-the-family-instructors-guide/session-one-parenting-principles-and-practices?lang=eng