Teaching my Children

Recently I was searching on LDS.org for ways to help my children speak to each other with more kindness and love and I found this article that I hadn't read before.

Families Under Covenant: by Henry B Eyring“In an eternal sense, salvation is a family affair. …

“Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted, and appreciated. They need to be assured of that often. Obviously, this is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it best.”¹⁰

But another crucial source for that feeling of being loved is love from other children in the family. Consistent care of brothers and sisters for each other will come only with persistent effort by parents and the help of God. You know that is true from experience in your own families. And it is confirmed each time you read of the family conflicts faced by righteous Lehi and his wife, Sariah, in the Book of Mormon record.

The successes they won provide a guide for us. They taught the gospel of Jesus Christ so well and so persistently that children and even some descendants over generations had hearts softened toward God and toward each other. For instance, Nephi and others wrote and reached out to family members who had been their enemies. The Spirit at times softened the hearts of thousands and replaced hatred with love.

One way for you to reproduce the successes of Father Lehi is by the way you lead family prayers and family time, such as family home evenings. Give children opportunities to pray, when they can pray, for each other in the circle who need blessings. Discern quickly the beginnings of discord and recognize acts of unselfish service, especially to each other. When they pray for each other and serve each other, hearts will be softened and turned to each other and to their parents.

I also read another quote in church yesterday that applied. It was in the Lorenzo Snow Manual, Chapter 5: The Grand Destiny of the Faithful:

We have divinity within ourselves; we have immortality within ourselves; our spiritual organism is immortal; it cannot be destroyed; it cannot be annihilated. We will live from all eternity to all eternity.

I find so much power in these words. So many times people say they are trying to find themselves. I want to teach my daughters that they are divine and that they are daughters of God. That they will not need to one day try to find themselves but they will know now who they are as an eternal spirit that can conquer any trial that the adversary may try to place in their way.