Parenting: Touching the Hearts of Our Youth

I've felt like I've learned a lot more this week as I have prepared more for class discussions. The topic was on parenting and especially parenting with teens. The purposes of parenting is to protect and prepare children to survive and thrive in society. And eternally to help them become like Heavenly Father. There are 4 character traits that we need as parents and children: courage, cooperation, responsibility, and respect. There are three types of parenting styles: permissive which is freedom without limits, autocratic which is limits without freedom, and active parenting which is freedom within limits. I learned a lot from the videos that had the many examples of different styles of parenting. One of them the mother was wondering how her son was doing and how he was worried about some things in high school. What we noticed that the mother did was she related to her own experiences, she didn't lecture, she validated his feelings, she was completely focused on him and not on other tasks like laundry. All of this will develop love and mutual respect between the parent and teenager.

Here's a great video from Elder Hales' talk on touching the hearts of the youth. Hope you enjoy!

I'm so glad when Dad comes home

I think we underestimate the power and the effect of fathers. I've known a lot of people who have not had a father in their life and it's been been really hard and effective their teenage years considerably. They need the stability and the effect will go along way. For me, I love my Dad and I have a lot of great memories of him. I remember sitting on his lap every Saturday during a BYU football game and enjoying it together. I grew up loving football because of it and it's been something that we do together still today. Another thing I remember is I was so excited to have him come home so when I knew he was on his way I would make a stance and when he came through the door I would run and jump into his arms. It was the best feeling to get his whisker kisses and hug him real tight. You just can't substitute that kind of feeling for anything.

Here is a video from the Church about fathers.

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&vgnextoid=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&channelId=bd163ca6e9aa3210VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD&sourceId=5b2ab0333ee92210VgnVCM100000176f620a____