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My Son,

High price of gas is causing terrible things- unexplainable things

President Eyring

The world in which our [youth] choose spiritual life or death is

changing rapidly… The language in the hallways and the locker rooms has coarsened. Clothing is less modest. Pornography has moved into the open. Tolerance for wickedness has not only increased, but much of what was called wrong is no longer condemned at all and may, even by our students, be admired.

Parents and administrators have in many cases bent to the pressures coming from a shifting world to retreat from moral standards once widely accepted.

The spiritual strength sufficient for our youth to stand firm just a few years ago will soon not be enough. Many of them are remarkable in their spiritual maturity and in their faith. But even the best of them are sorely tested. And the testing will become more severe.

CES Conference, 14 Aug 2001

What kind of skills do kids need?

Confident

Steadfast

Courageous

Fearless

Unwavering

Humble

Submissive

Meek

Obedient

Trusting

Empowered Filled with the Spirit

Sis. Elaine S. Dalton

A young man I know well was elected to be the student body president at a large university. The university sent him to a leadership seminar where student leaders from across the United States gathered in Chicago, Illinois, to be trained and educated.

They participated in an initial game outdoors on the college campus so that they could become acquainted with each other. The students were presented with current issues facing today’s youth and were asked to take a position. In response to the issue presented, they were directed to run to several trees in the grassy area marked “strongly agree,” “partially agree,” “strongly disagree,” or “mildly disagree.”

Toward the end of this exercise, the leader asked, “Do you believe in premarital sex?” Without hesitation, this young man ran to the tree marked “strongly disagree.” To his amazement, he was the only one there!

All the other student leaders were laughing and pointing at him and saying, “Oh, Jess, you are so funny. We all know you’re not really serious.” At that moment Jess said he knew exactly what he must do and so he loudly declared, “I’m not funny. I’m serious!”

There was a stunned silence, and then the group dispersed, leaving Jess standing alone by the tree. He felt out of place and yes, weird. But he wasn’t weird. He was right. And he was not alone. During the week, many of the student leaders came to him privately and said that they wished they had known years earlier what he knew. Jess later said, “It was easy because I knew that I represented not only the university but my family, the Church, and the Savior.”

April Conference, 2008

Question

So, what is our goal as parents?

How do we help them become meek, yet empowered?

Alma to his sons

My son, give ear to my words; for I swear unto you, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land.

And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day. (Alma 36: 1-3)

We Speak

Why mightthey listen?

Finally, Alma to Helaman

And now, my son Helaman, I command you that ye take the records [brass plates] which have been entrusted with me;

And I also command you that ye keep a record of this people, according as I have done, upon the plates of Nephi, and keep all these things sacred which I have kept, even as I have kept them; for it is for a wise purpose that they are kept.

And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls. (Alma 37: 1,2,8)

LimitedLimitedMemoryMemory

Expanded MemoryExpanded Memory

Paul to the Hebrews

By faith Abraham, when he was called … obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac…

By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped…

By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel…By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they

saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and

imprisonment:They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword…God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made

perfectWherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of

witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Pres. Joseph F. Smith“In the Presence of the Divine”

April 1916I believe we move and have our being in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separate from them. …

we are closely related to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our

friends and associates and co-laborers who have preceded us into the spirit world.

We can not forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by ties that we can not break, that we can not dissolve or free ourselves from…

One additional thought…

Age

Preschool

7-9

10-12

13-16

Focus

Family

Law and Order

Hero Worship

Identity Search

Developmental Stages

Influence of the Invisible Audience (12-16)

MormonMormonIdentity?Identity? WorldWorld

Identity?Identity?

Play to the CrowdPlay to the Crowd

Elder Holland

When crisis comes in [their] lives—and they will—the philosophies of

men interlaced with a few scriptures and poems just won’t do.

Are we really nurturing [those we teach] in a way that will sustain them when the stresses of life appear?

Or are we giving them a kind of theological Twinkie—spiritually empty calories? President John Taylor called such teaching ‘fried froth,’ the kind of thing you could eat all day and yet finish feeling totally unsatisfied. (“A Teacher Come from God,” Ensign, May 1998, 27)