“Communities have a responsibility to assist the family in promoting wholesome entertainment. It is estimated that growing children today watch television over twenty-five hours per week. Too much time viewing television can be destructive, and pornography in this medium should not be tolerated.

“The leisure time of children must be constructively directed to wholesome, positive pursuits. They should learn the pleasure of work, of doing a job well. They should learn there that honest labor develops dignity and self-respect. “Children must be taught to work at home. They must be taught that it is wrong to steal, lie, cheat, or covet what others have.

They can and must learn the commandments of God. “Children must be taught right from wrong. I recall kneeling at the bedsides of our young children, helping them with their prayers. “Children must be taught to pray, to rely on the Lord for guidance, and to express appreciation for the blessings that are theirs. Obviously, this is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it best. … “Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted, and appreciated. “Rearing happy, peaceful children is no easy challenge in today’s world, but it can be done, and it is being done. “Nurture your children with love and the admonitions of the Lord. When, in later years, they feel a longing to recreate in their own families the same atmosphere they enjoyed as children, they are likely to turn to the faith that gave meaning to their parents’ lives” (in Conference Report, Oct. The reason I believe this can take place is that, despite all the adverse winds to which these people have been subjected, they have been influenced still more, and much more than they realized, by the current of life in the homes in which they were reared. But I have repeatedly seen many of these same children, after years of wandering, mellow, realize what they have been missing, repent, and make great contribution to the spiritual life of their community.

In this they bring sorrow to their parents, who have done their best to set in movement a current and to teach and live as examples. “I have sometimes seen children of good families rebel, resist, stray, sin, and even actually fight God. Wirthlin Selected Teachings Parental Success President Spencer W.

Gospel songs about children growing up