Family
Family life prepares us for life in a larger world. The experiences we have within our families establish our sense of identity, teach us relationship and communication skills, and model coping strategies - whether positive or negative. Our greatest joys spring from our family relationships. Our deepest wounds tend also to spring from those close, central connections.
Building a strong and happy family can be difficult, in a world that keeps us ever busier, more distracted with entertainments, and more focused on our own personal needs and aspirations. But in such a world, the refuge and shelter of a happy family can be even more important, for emotional and mental health. This section provides resources to help you build what Steven R. Covey has called "a beautiful family culture" - even in a busy, hurried world.
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Best Books on Strengthening Families
These are our favorite books on strengthening families:
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, by Stephen R. Covey
- The Shelter of Each Other, by Mary Pipher
- Putting Family First: Successful Strategies for Reclaiming Family Life in a Hurry-Up World, by William J. Doherty
- The Plug-In Drug: Television, Computers, and Family Life, by Marie Winn
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For more books on additional topics, please visit our Best Books Catalog.
LDS Articles on Strengthening Families
LDS Church leaders have long spoken out on the central importance of the family, and have implemented programs to sustain and support crucial family relationships. For decades they have taught church members to hold weekly "Family Home Evenings." The church's counseling service was recently renamed "LDS Family Services" to reflect a family-centered focus. Building strong and loving families, centered on the teachings of Jesus Christ, is at the very heart of Church doctrine.
Favorite Articles:
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Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World." By the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve; first read publicly by President Gordon B. Hinckley on September 23, 1995. (If you prefer, access a two-column printable PDF of this important document.) "Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." |
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Thomas S. Monson / 2010 Bishop's Handbook, “The Home and the Church,” Published online Fall 2010 - much crucial doctrine and practice relating to Christ-centered homes is contained here. "We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to the teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church. The home is the basis of a righteous life, and no other instrumentality can take its place of fulfill its essential functions in carrying forward this God-given responsibility. We counsel parents and children to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform” (First Presidency letter, Feb. 11, 1999) |
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Boyd K. Packer, “The Father and the Family,” Ensign, May 1994, 19. “The ultimate purpose of every teaching, every activity in the Church is that parents and their children are happy at home, sealed in an eternal marriage, and linked to their generations. The ultimate purpose of the adversary, who has “great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time,”(Rev. 12:12) is to disrupt, disturb, and destroy the home and the family. Like a ship without a rudder, without a compass, we drift from the family values which have anchored us in the past. Now we are caught in a current so strong that unless we correct our course, civilization as we know it will surely be wrecked to pieces...The family is safe within the Church. We are not in doubt as to the course we must follow." |
