The Family: A Proclamation on Marriage and Parenthood

The Family: A Proclamation on Marriage and Parenthood 

The Family: A Proclamation to the World shares some of the most important doctrines to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The sixth paragraph dives deeper into the importance of marriage in its effects on children. It also shares the importance of raising children and the responsibility placed on parents in this regard. It reads...

HUSBAND AND WIFE have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

One of the first principles outlined in this paragraph is that parents have a responsibility to love and care for each other, and also for their children. When parents love each other, this love is felt by their children in the sense of security. The children will know that their home is safe, that their situation is unchanging, and that their parents will stay together to take care of them. When two parents are in love it helps them love and care for their children because they will be doing it together. Their love with allow them to approach parenting in a way that makes the child feel safe and more cared for. 

This paragraph also outlines several sacred duties of parents. In my marriage I plan to take each of these duties very seriously. However, there are two that I want to specifically address. I want to be able to provide for my children's physical and spiritual needs. This duty has dual importance's, both the temporal and the spiritual. To provide for their temporal needs I am in college to become a Marriage and Family Therapist, which is a stable well paying job that will help keep a roof over our heads, put food on the table, and keep us safe and secure. My wife is also close to graduating nursing school, so we will have another income as needed to help provide the temporal needs of our family. Spiritually, we attend church, continue to learn the gospel, and keep the commandments in all things. By doing these things now, before we have children, we are preparing to teach them the gospel by example. They will learn from watching us attend the temple often, but they will also be encouraged to gain testimonies of their own. The other important duty I want to address is teaching my children to observe the commandments of God. We will also teach this by example, but we will also teach these commandments to our children often and simply. So that they can begin understanding and keeping them early in life. That way as temptation comes, they will be resilient against it. 

The final sentence is interesting in that it clearly addressed how parents are not accountable for how their children end up, but instead on if they have done their duty as parents. This is because each child has agency and can choose how they want to act, even with the best or worst parents. However it is important that parents provide the best opportunities for these children to use their agency righteously. That is all that God asks of parents, that they take care of his precious children. That is why this last sentence serves as a warning that we will all be judged by God for our parenting. 

I trust that all who read this blog will be good parents. Not because you will be perfect, but because you will try. Trust in God and he will help you become the best parent you can be. 

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