THE 3RD PEBA INTERNATIONAL BLOG AWARDS is looking for nominees in the Visayas and Mindanao Region If you have something to say about FAMILIES, and OFWs, yours could be the winning piece!
Society's problems arise, almost without exception, out of the homes of the people. If there is to be a reformation, if there is to be a change, if there is to be a return to old and sacred values, it must begin in the home. – Excerpt from the book, “Standing for Something” By Gordon B. Hinckley
“There is no place, no environment more conducive to the development and enactment of virtue than the family. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity and their peace, all find their roots in the teaching of children by fathers and mothers, and in the strength and stability of the family. I know this not only because of what I have observed during my eighty nine years, but because of what I experienced in my childhood home.
When I was a boy, my parents followed a practice they called "family home evening." On a specified evening of the week, we would join as a family to learn together, play together, and enjoy one another's company. My father was a great storyteller, and he often told us stories from his memory. Mother would warm up the parlor where her grand piano stood, so that we could sing as a family. We were miserable performers as children. We could do all kinds of things together while playing, but when one of us tried to sing a solo before the others, it was like asking ice cream to stay hard on the kitchen stove. In the beginning, we would laugh and make cute remarks about one another's performance. But our parents persisted. And because they persisted, we sang together. We laughed together. We studied together. And we played and prayed together.
Out of those simple and informal but regular gatherings in the parlor of our old home came something indescribable and wonderful. Our love for our parents was strengthened. My love for my brother and sisters was enhanced. An appreciation for simple goodness grew in all our hearts. Admittedly, we didn't openly speak about love for one another very much in those days. But we didn't have to. We felt the security, peace, and quiet strength that come to families who pray together, work together, help one another, and feel connected one with another.
It is so plainly evident that both the great good and the terrible evil found in the world today are the sweet and the bitter fruits of the rearing, of yesterday's children. As we train a new generation, so will the world be in a few years. If we are worried about the future, then we must look today at the upbringing of children. The evils of the world will continue to escalate unless there is an underlying acknowledgment, even a strong and fervent conviction, that the family is an instrument of the Almighty. It is His creation. It is also the most fundamental and basic unit of society. And it deserves - no, it demands our combined focus and attention. We go to great lengths to preserve historical buildings and sites in our cities. We need to apply the same fervor to preserving the most ancient and sacred of institutions - the family!
- 1. Accept responsibility for our role as parents and fulfill our obligations to our children.
- 2. Get married and stay married.
- 3. Put the father back at the head of the home.
- 4. Recognize and value the supreme importance of mothers.
- 5. Celebrate and treat children as our most priceless treasures.
- 6. Discipline and train children with love.
- 7. Teach values to children.
- 8. Teach children to work.
- 9. Read to and with children.
- 10. Pray together.
I believe that if OFWs will apply the 10 suggested things, will have a wonderful effect to us and our families. There will be few divorces and broken families. Fathers or mother can do these things even they're far from home. The wonders of technology makes all this possible.
THE 3RD PEBA INTERNATIONAL BLOG AWARDS is looking for nominees in the Visayas and Mindanao Region If you have something to say about FAMILIES, and OFWs, yours could be the winning piece!
©2010 THOUGHTSKOTO
