Sunday, May 26, 2013

Pondering President Benson's Words as a Family

"Radiate a spirit of contentment and joy with homemaking. You teach by example your attitude toward homemaking. Your attitude will say to your children, “I am only a housewife” or it will convey, “Homemaking is the highest, most noble profession to which a woman might aspire.” Provide your daughters with opportunities to develop their own skills, by allowing them to bake, cook, sew, and arrange their own rooms.
Have daily family devotion in your home. You teach your children dependence on the Lord by your morning and evening family prayers. Reading scriptures in the home should be a habit.
Under your husband’s direction, have weekly family home evenings and regular scripture study, especially on the Sabbath day. Make the Sabbath a holy day by family scripture study, attendance at meetings, and other appropriate activities.
Promote only good literature and music in the home. Introduce your children to the best in art, music, literature, and entertainment.
Praise your children more than you correct them. Praise them for even their smallest achievement.
Give regular jobs to your children. Let them share in family projects, gardening, lawn care, and cleanup.
Let your home be the social and cultural center for your family. This includes picnics, home evenings, musicals, and backyard games. Make your home a place where your children want to be during their free time.
Encourage your children to come to you for counsel with their problems and questions by listening to them every day. Discuss with them such important matters as dating, sex, and other matters affecting their growth and development, and do it early enough so they will not obtain information from questionable sources.
Treat your children with respect and kindness—just as you would when guests are present. They are, after all, more meaningful to you than guests. Teach your children never to speak unkindly to others regarding members of the family. Be loyal to one another.
Implant within them a desire to serve others. Teach them to be thoughtful to the aged, the sick, and the lonely. Help them to plan early for a mission so they can bless others who do not have the gospel.
Guard against the temptations of seeking after material things; the constant craze to appear more youthful and worldly; the limiting of the size of your family when health of the mother or infant is not the concern; and personal selfishness which will deprive you of the joy of helping others. All these problems contribute to ingratitude, uncharitableness, and emotional instability.
Support, encourage, and strengthen your husband in his responsibility as patriarch in the home. You are partners with him. A woman’s role in a man’s life is to lift him, to help him uphold lofty standards, and to prepare through righteous living to be his queen for all eternity.
Home is love, understanding, trust, welcome, and a sense of belonging. If you, as wives, mothers, daughters, take proper care of yourselves, your families, and your homes, and keep close to each other as sisters in the Relief Society, many of the problems of the day troubling youth and parents will pass you by."  -- Ezra Taft Benson

Name:
1-      Do not Agree     10- Strongly Agree
You are provided with opportunities to bake
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You are provided with opportunities to cook
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You are provided with opportunities to sew
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You are provided with opportunities to arrange your own room
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You participate in and encourage a family devotion time in your home – participating in family prayer
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You encourage family devotion by remembering your personal prayers no less than twice a day
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You encourage family devotion time by participating in family scripture study.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You encourage family devotion by personally remembering to read your scriptures daily. If you have questions there is someone you can ask.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10

1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You participate in and encourage weekly family home evenings.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
What is your favorite FHE from the past 3 months?




You feel Sunday is a holy day.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You engage in appropriate Sabbath activities on Sunday
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
Good music and literature is promoted in your home.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You are encouraged to appreciate art and develop artistic abilities.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You feel you are praised more than you are corrected
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You offer praise to family members more often than you give correction
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You have regular jobs and responsibilities that are uniquely your own.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You are encouraged to share in family work projects .
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
What has been your favorite family work project in the last year?




You feel our family has enough picnics
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
Your family plays backyard games together
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You spend lots of quality time with your family
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You enjoy being home during your spare time
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You feel you can approach your parents for counsel or with problems and questions you may have.
Mom:   1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
Dad:     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You feel you are treated with respect and kindness in your family.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You treat family members with respect and kindness, much like you would treat a guest
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You trust the members of your family
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You enjoy doing service projects with your family
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You are encouraged to set goals for your future (missions, education, marriage etc.)
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
You choose to feel generous and charitable toward your family members
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
Your home is filled with love, understanding, trust, and belonging.
1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10
If there were anything you could change about your family – what would it be.     ( Remember you have to be willing to do it to.)



No comments:

Post a Comment