"To truly understand [the hearts of our youth], we must do more than just be in the same room... We have to pay attention to them just as we would pay attention to a trusted adult colleague or close friend. Most important is asking them questions, letting them talk, and then being willing to listen..."
"Being there means understanding the hearts of our youth and connecting with them. And connecting with them means not just conversing with them but doing things with them too."
"I ask the Lord’s blessings to be with [you] parents and with the youth... It is my prayer that we may have eternal families and be together forever in the presence of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."
Reference:
Church Apostle, Elder Robert D. Hales, "Our Duty To God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders of the Rising Generation"
.PNG)
From time to time when my wife, son and I are driving in the car and my wife and I are talking to each other, my son starts to feel a little left out. From the back seat he yells “Talk to me! Talk to me! Talk to me!” His cry for attention has become something of a family joke since, as our only child, he’s anything but ignored. Plus, he’s only 3 years old and we know that plenty of teenagers would never dream of saying out loud “Talk to me! Talk to me! Talk to me!”. There’s only so much that he can tell us nowadays, of course, and most of it is scattered, random thoughts or one word answers to our questions. Things like what he did at preschool that day, what he sees out the window, or what he doesn’t want to eat or do at the moment. But I should be grateful for and foster his enthusiasm to talk to us. Obviously our conversations are good for his cognitive development but equally good for our mutual spiritual development and progress towards being an eternal family. When, in the not-too-distant future, what he needs most is to talk to us and for us to listen to him, I want that to be completely normal thing for him to expect.
ReplyDeleteHe may feel a little ignored as a 3-year old in the back seat of the car, but I sure hope we connect with him enough as he gets older that he knows he never has to plead for us to talk to him.