Play Together, Stay Together

Families that play together stay together, especially when their play is uplifting and wholesome. Family vacations, holidays, birthday celebrations, and other activities build strong bonds and feelings of self-worth. The phrase “Remember when we…” is sure to bring love and laughter in the years to come.

There Is No Substitute for Work

Building a strong family takes hard work, and part of that work is teaching our children how to work. Though some may see work as something to avoid, the gospel teaches that working for and with our families brings great blessings.God Himself calls His plan for His children “my work and my glory” (Moses 1:39).

Compassion at Home

When life seems tough, home can be a place where we find love, compassion, and warmth. Within our family, we feel reassured that someone understands and cares how we feel. And the compassion we witness and experience at home inspires us to be more compassionate to others.

Living Together in Love

“Love one another; as I have loved you” (John 13:34). On this simple phrase hangs the success of every marriage and family. In the light of Christ’s love we see our family’s divine potential.We love them with all our heart, soul, and mind. And as we do, our ordinary family is transformed into an extraordinary one.

Building a Family of Faith

Faith in our family begins with trusting our Heavenly Father and His promises. We press forward despite challenges, never giving up on ourselves or our children. We teach our family to have faith in Christ by living what we know to be true. Our children learn their most powerful lessons from our faithfulness.

A House of Prayer

Just as we want our children to turn to us for counsel and comfort, our Heavenly Father wants us to turn to Him. He asks that we “pray always, and be believing” (D&C 90:24).  When our children kneel with us in prayer and hear our pleadings in their behalf, the foundation of prayer is laid in their own lives.

Happiness in Family Life

is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer,repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, andwholesome recreational activities.”

Life will have its storms. We can and must have confidence. God our Heavenly Father has given us the right to know the truth. He has shown that the way to receive that truth is simple—so simple a child can follow it.

Once it is followed, more light comes from God to enlighten the understanding of His faithful spirit child. That light will become brighter even as the world darkens. The light that comes to us with truth will be brighter than the darkness that comes from sin and error around us.

It is by faith that you can lay hold upon every good thing. Just as you are marked as a target by the enemy of righteousness, you have been protected and watched over by your Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They know you. They know all the forces and individuals around you. They know what is ahead of you.

And so They know which of the choices you make, which of the desires you satisfy, and which of the circumstances around you will make the most difference in keeping you walking in the light.

I testify that by the Spirit of Christ and by the Holy Ghost, you may walk confidently in whatever difficulties will come. Because you are so valuable, some of your trials may be severe. You need never be discouraged or afraid. The way through difficulties has always been prepared for you, and you will find it if you exercise faith.

The child learns both from what the parents do and what they say.

The child who sees a mother or a father pass through the trials of life with fervent prayer to God and then hears a sincere testimony that God answered in kindness will remember what they saw and heard. When their trials come, they will be prepared

If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in your Church meetings, you will find it.

And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you.

Love is the motivating principle by which the Lord leads us along the way towards becoming like Him, our perfect example. Our way of life, hour by hour, must be filled with the love of God and love for others.

There is no surprise in that, since the Lord proclaimed those as the first and great commandments. It is love of God that will lead us to keep His commandments. And love of others is at the heart of our capacity to obey Him.

We each think, say, and do things in our daily lives that can offend the Spirit. The Lord taught us that the Holy Ghost will be our constant companion when our hearts are full of charity and when virtue garnishes our thoughts unceasingly (see D&C 121:45).

For those who are struggling with the high standard needed to qualify for the gift of the Spirit’s companionship, I offer this encouragement. You have had times when you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost. It may have happened for you today.

You can treat those moments of inspiration like the seed of faith that Alma described (see Alma 32:28). Plant each one. You can do that by acting on the prompting you felt.

The most valuable inspiration will be for you to know what God would have you do. If it is to pay tithing or to visit a grieving friend, you should do it. Whatever it is, do it.

When you demonstrate your willingness to obey, the Spirit will send you more impressions of what God would have you do for Him.

University studies and discussions between students tend to focus on the young family—primarily early marriage years. And yet these years are fleeting. To understand marriage and family we must develop our awareness of challenges and opportunities common to the aging family.

As noted elsewhere couples tend to focus strongly on their children's development and activities rather intensely during the child-rearing years. But the couples who focus too exclusively there lose the passion and joy of their own marriage.

We will discuss challenges associated with the "sandwich generation"—adults who find themselves caring for both children and aging parents. We will also examine the retired couple and the challenges and opportunities commonly associated with such significant realignment of time and energies. We will also consider the losses associated with the aging family, including the loss of adult children, health, independence and one's spouse.

Blended families have challenges on several fronts: they resulted from a "failure" in an earlier marriage, there are almost always continued ties of some sort, and there are few useful models of how a blended family ought to be constructed. (Sorry, the Brady Bunch just won't cut it.)

Here we will address some of the effects of divorce and remarriage—blending of families. Rather than focusing on several of the obvious negative outcomes of divorce we will look at how we can respond to many of them.

We will consider the total effects of parenting, both upon the children and the parents, as well as the subsystems. Though we will not be able to cover the wide range of topics and opportunities relative to parenting we will dive in deeply enough to help you develop some parenting skills and perspectives beyond your own upbringing experiences.

As always, recognizing and committing to utilize wise and well-researched approaches will serve you well, in terms of developing your own family skills and helping others to do so as well.

It would be great if everything went smoothly and on schedule, but it is not likely to work quite that easily.

Every family encounters crises—those moments in which our choices either move our family in an upward direction or create additional, perhaps more serious, problems to address. Crisis is best viewed as an opportunity paired with danger; as the term implies our response to these moments are critical to our further success.

transitional challenges and opportunities for the new family—dating and courtship, becoming a couple and blending resources, having young children, and establishing proper sexual relations as a couple while teaching children proper principles and boundaries.