The brethren of the Church teach us that we should meet often in councils as a family to create a sense of unity and understanding. Family councils should be conducted in a spirit of love. Our meetings should always involve a atmosphere of love and affection for our family and each of its members. How ever often we meet there should always be a common goal. But this conversation does not have to be rigid. We should make it a matter of prayer to invite the Spirit of God to teach, inspire, and correct us. He is a being that testifies of truth. Contention should be quickly done away with. If we truly seek to find an answer our Heavenly Father will reveal that answer in His timing, not ours. We must have patience and trust in God.
We as the parents should always seek to involve our children in our councils. Before we invite them though, we must decide whether that council is appropriate for them at that time or not.
(For example, if my husband and I wanted to have a council about chastity with our 12 year old son, we would not invite the younger children. Or if my husband and I wanted to have a council about our dating schedule we would not invite our children. But after we have made a conclusion, James and I would tell our children about our plans to go on dates and invite them to choose the activities they will do when we are out.)
The advantage of having family councils with our children is that they can teach us so much! Although they may not always show it in their behavior, our children have wonderful temporal and spiritual insights that we may be blind to as adults. Something we may think is a minor or unrelated detail could be important to our four year-old. As we remain open in our hearts and minds, our children will teach us great things.
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