Teaching Our Children

When Alma was speaking to Corianton who had committed grievous sins as a missionary to the Zoramites, he said, “And now the Spirit of the Lord doth say unto me: Command thy children to do good” (Alma 39:12).  While this was specific counsel to Alma, surely it applies to all parents; the Lord expects us to teach our children to “do good” as well.  In the Law of Moses the Israelites were given this commandment about teaching their children, “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul…. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 11:18-19).  It is certainly no simple task to be responsible for teaching children, and there are multiple other scriptures which help us to see what principles are most important to focus on with our children. 

                King Benjamin gave this counsel to his people about what they needed to teach their children: "And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin….  But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another” (Mosiah 4:14-15).  Simply put, parents are responsible to help children learn to treat others well.  Surely that is one of the most difficult things to teach children and is something that must be modeled to be most effective.  But teaching them to be kind to others is not enough; the Lord described parents’ responsibility in these words: “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….  And they shall also teach their children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” (D&C 68:25, 28).  Just as missionaries focus with investigators on the basic principles of the gospel—faith, repentance, and baptism—so too must we ensure that our children understand these as well as the foundational habit of prayer.  The Lord put it this way to Adam in the beginning: “Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence….  Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying: That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten;” (Moses 6:57-59).  Just as the first words of Jesus officially spoke in His ministry were “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” so too must we focus on teaching our children to repent (Matthew 4:17).  We also must help them understand how they can be born again and cleansed through the blood of Christ and his atonement.  Surely there are few things of more importance than that which we want our children to learn. 

             As we struggle with the busyness of life that inevitably comes as parents raise children, these scriptures help us to prioritize the time we spend time with them.  We will certainly never regret any time that we spend with them teaching them to love one another, to have faith in Christ, to repent, and to come unto the Savior to be cleansed of their sins.  If they leave our homes knowing these things, it will, as the Lord told Martin Harris, “suffice for [their] daily walk, even unto the end of [their] life” (D&C 19:32).