Recently I have been blessed with another son. 🙂 He is wonderful. Prior to his coming, I was pondering the responsibilities of parents in raising and teaching their children. It’s no coincidence that I came upon this scripture in one of those times when you just open them up to some “random” page:
And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.
For this shall be a law unto the inhabitants of Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.
And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.
And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.
(Doctrine and Covenants 68:25-28)
What a wonderful blessing it is to have so many resources available to us, including the scriptures, that teach how to be good parents. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has said, “If you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.”
Of course, not everyone becomes a parent in this life. I really like Elder Neil L. Andersen’s conference talk “Children” in which he says, “As the Lord’s servant, I assure you that this promise is certain: ‘Faithful members whose circumstances do not allow them to receive the blessings of eternal marriage and parenthood in this life will receive all promised blessings in the eternities, [as] {sic} they keep the covenants they have made with God.'”
I encourage all of us who currently enjoy the blessing of being a mother or father to raise up our children in righteousness, to “bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
I believe one of the ways we can be our best selves is to remember that we are each a child of our Heavenly Father. When we treat our children as such, we recognize where they came from and better honor their divine heritage.