When you have a child was is older than about 3 years old, don’t let them bring pencils, paperwork, etc to draw on in church. It really annoys the people in front and in back. They should never have to ever be drawing in their life at church. When you have a baby or a small child, you usually have little baby books and crackers. Then, when they get older, but not old enough to get a full, complete understanding of the talks, they should have book that have stories of Jesus and what He did on the Earth, etc. If you do have them draw, then all they think church is is fun and games and don’t pay attention. They never really take it seriously. Then, when you want them to now draw and to start listening, they will throw a temper tantrum.

Another thing to make the house pleasant is to hang a picture of Jesus in the living room or family room. Then, always imagine that this is really Him in real life and He is watching and listening to everything you are saying and doing. Then, you will always be reminded to do the right thing He would want you to do. When you hold Family Home Evening, start out with and end with family prayer. Kneel down in a circle and hold hands. It will bring you closer together as a family. Be sure to hold family prayer daily. Your children will look back and remember those times with a good feeling inside.

If you have a job or something you want your child to do, just say, “I want you to do this_________and I’m telling you once and once is only all I need to tell you. If you don’t do it now, then you will have to do something extra.” Be sure that if they don’t mind you, that they do an extra job. If you teach your children at an early age to mind you, then later, you won’t have to keep calling them and calling them. For example, if you are ready to eat and some child is outside, call out and say, “Dinner is ready” and if they don’t come, then they don’t get any. If they come 15 minutes later or longer, stick to what you said and don’t let them have that meal. It is so important that you teach them as soon as they know what you are talking about. If they learn very early, then for the rest of your life, you can be blessed with children that do what you want them to do when they are asked. Keep applying this forever. Then, when they know how much you want them to respond right away to the chore request, you don’t keep reminding them. Ask them to clean a room (or something like that) right away. if you come back 5 minutes later and they haven’t started, say, “Okay, no supper for you” and stick to what you said. Don’t let them con you out of it. Then the next time you ask them to do something, they know what to expect if they don’t do it right away.

If one of your kids does something bad and another one tells you about it, don’t say, “Okay I’ll talk to him later.” Because parents get busy and distracted and they forget and the child might never get corrected. It’s very important to teach your kids now because we are just borrowing them from our Heavenly Father to prove that we can teach kids the right way. And they will turn out good or bad from what we teach them. Remember that now you may have jobs and classes and other things to do, but what you will have in heaven is your children and nothing else. So they will be what you spend your time with. The jobs will be forgotten. It is better to establish a good relationship with your kids by going on trips, picnics, camping, skiing, etc. so they know that home is a wonderful place where they can be loved.
Whenever something happens that shouldn’t (like there is a broken plate on the kitchen floor), and you ask everyone who did it and someone speaks up right away to say they did it, don’t get mad. In that situation there is no reason to be angry. In the first place, your child didn’t mean to do it. In the second place, he or she didn’t lie or wait until later to say it. Now if they did speak up right away, just have them clean up the dish. But if they don’t say it right away or lie and you find out later that it was that person, you can get mad. But it would be best if you wouldn’t be mad and just talk it over with the child and ask why he or she lied and see if they can do better the next time. If you do it this way, the other people in the family will see that each time they do something bad and are honest, it will be easier. If someone does lie, but later they come back to you and say they did it, don’t get mad because they are repenting. It took a lot of courage to tell you that and getting mad at them will just make it harder to tell you so. They might not even tell you the next time.

Another thing I want to remember to do as a mom is to always teach your children to pray. Even if you say, “And be sure to say your prayers” to my kids. You’re not there to witness them saying their prayers so it is up to them to do it by themselves. My mom would often say that to do but I wouldn’t bother. Make sure EVERY NIGHT to gather as a family to pray. In a few years it will be normal to them to pray. You will NEVER make it to the Celestial Kingdom if you don’t pray. NEVER. Start to teach them when they are young. It is a very, very hard thing to do.

Clothes are the next topic of importance. Keep yourself slim and wear neat clothes. That’s what I notice in older women: their hair, what shape their body is in, their clothes and shoes. Being beautiful is very important.
Buying really neat clothes for your children is VERY important. Cute little dresses for young girls and little overalls and football shirts for the boys. When I was in 5th and 6th grade, having neat clothes was the most important thing people knew you by. Unmatching tops and pants, hand-me-downs, high-bottom pants (which aren’t in style right now) and old clothes are really sick.
Shoes are just as important as anything. Right now to have Adidas, Pumas, Nike’s, and really good $30 shoes are the “in” thing. I don’t have them because mom and dad say that my feet will grow too fast for good shoes. I don’t really blame them either so good $17 shoes which resemble the good brands and what I want are finally what I’m going to get. I’m really thankful for them.

Tell your kids this and remember it yourself: no matter what you do – if you cheat, lie, or fight, it may not matter here on earth. A little cheating will get you through a test or get you candy from the cupboard if you lie about taking it. It will just be counted against you in heaven. Every day, anything you do, no matter if it is punching your brother or sister because you got mad to relieve your tension or get revenge will be counted against you. ANYTHING you do may not have consequences here. If you are tempted to take a candy bar from the store and do, what will it do? It will quench your taste buds and maybe lead you into more and greater bad things you will do. But just that little thing that doesn’t do much will be counted against you.

Earth is a test and you doing either one thing or another to affect your final grade. Here’s an exaggerated example: a guy who never cheated but was stupid and didn’t get high grades but studies hard and later didn’t get a good job and dies of starvation will be blessed in heaven. Why do people do little wrong things when they know it’s wrong? It might content you here but you will sit back later and mourn over it and practically die of a broken heart and say, “Why didn’t I do right?” Think of this dinky little time we have here on earth and think of all those never-ending days we will have in heaven to regret or be thankful for what we did here. Think of this poem by David O. McKay:

“Day by day, hour by hour, we are building the kind of person we are going to be forever.”