Monday, August 4, 2008

Write a letter to your children



Early last week I read parenting authors, Michael and Debi Pearl's letters to their children. Michael wrote to his sons and Debi to the daughters. They contained a lot of counsel on picking a marriage partner and raising a righteous family. I was impressed and wondered if I could write such nice letters to my own children. Then, for Sunday School I read the words of Alma given to his sons. The chapters were yet another inspirational message from father to sons. Then, in sacrament meeting the 14 year old girl who lives across the street from us shared the story about how when her Dad died a month ago, she found a can where he had sealed up a letter to be opened when she was married. It had been written when she was just a little girl. She said she was sure that the church leader who decided to have parents write these letters all those years ago was inspired. They had read the letter at his funeral and now, this letter is the great treasure and link she has to her father to carry her through the rest of her teenage years. Anyway, it occurred to me that with all this repetition on a theme, that perhaps I really do need to write a few letters myself.