Building Strong Character in Our Children

“Education makes a greater difference between man and man, than nature has made between man and beast. The virtues and powers to which men may be trained, by early education and constant discipline, are truly sublime and astonishing.

“It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives.

“But their bodies must be hardened, as well as their souls exalted. Without strength and activity and vigor of body, the brightest mental excellencies will be eclipsed and obscured."

~Letter from John Adams to his wife concerning the education of their children

The Benefits of Writing

“Reading maketh a full man;

Speaking a ready man; and

Writing an exact man!”

~ Sir Francis Bacon

Teaching in the Home

"The vital importance of teaching truth in the home is fundamental. The Church is important, but it is in the home where parents provide the required understanding and direction for children. It is truly said that the most important callings in time and eternity are those of father and mother. In time we will be released from all other assignments we receive but not from that of father and mother."

--Elder Richard G. Scott, "He Lives! All Glory to His Name!", April 2010 General Conference

Love the Center of Everything

"Because love is the great commandment, it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our Church callings, and in our livelihood. Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities, and nations. Love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk."

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Love of God", Ensign, Nov 2009, 21–24

Receiving Spiritual Guidance

"Impressions of the Spirit can come in response to urgent prayer or unsolicited when needed. Sometimes the Lord reveals truth to you when you are not actively seeking it, such as when you are in danger and do not know it. However, the Lord will not force you to learn. You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you. As you make this a practice in your life, you will be more perceptive to the feelings that come with spiritual guidance. Then, when that guidance comes, sometimes when you least expect it, you will recognize it more easily."

--Richard G. Scott, "To Acquire Spiritual Guidance", Ensign, Nov 2009, 6–9

Educating Children

"If children are to be brought up in the way they should go, to be good citizens here and happy hereafter, they must be taught. It is idle to suppose that children will grow up good, while surrounded with wickedness, without cultivation. It is folly to suppose that they can become learned without education."

--Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 273.

Motherhood

"Motherhood is the one thing in all the world which most truly exemplifies the God-given virtues of creating and sacrificing. The mother who, in compliance with eternal law, brings into the world an immortal spirit occupies first rank in the realm of creation."

--Gospel Ideals, "Respect for Mothers and Their Divine Role", Improvement Era, 1953.