A wise friend of mine sent me this in an email.
“It is amazing how staying away from friends makes all the difference with children. WE had a week like that last week, and now the children are getting along much better. Wow, life is ever so interesting.”
I think it speaks for itself, but it is a great reminder that we often go looking for fulfilment and pleasure outside of our families, when the real fulfillment, joy and pleasure was meant to happen within our families, at home. If we get enough time alone, as a family, we become closer and then we develop the kind of power we need to really influence the world for good.
I am always able to tell if someone comes from a strong, close family. They are different somehow, and usually more happy. I know I can make the world a better place just by being a really great mother/parent. The best things are always simple, that goes for improving our communities and nation as well. Amazing!
Visit Nicholeen’s blog http://teachingselfgovernment.com before Christmas and type in the code work holiday1 and get a discount on her book Parenting A House United.
Nicholeen, my wife and I were discussing this very issue last week. We live in a small development in the countryside. For some reason, all of the other families who live here are older so there are no young kids. This means our children are forced to play with each other. We were discussing how different it would be to live in a suburban neighborhood where there were families with kids in nearly every house. We were wondering if that would be better, and we decided there were more disadvantages than advantages. One advantage is that the kids would have easier opportunity to play with their friends without us having to drive someplace. But we also find that we are a closer family because they learn to play with each other. We feel like there would be a lot more hurt feelings if other kids were *always* in the mix. So we have avoided a lot of drama by concentrating on family first.
Definitely true. Even if those friends (or even extended family, close family-like friends, etc.) are positive and “playing nice”. The kids can just get so riled up and demanding you end up pulling your hair out trying to restore some normalcy.
A great society starts with great families. Zion starts in the home, where we can literally practice the principles of the United Order, if we choose. So many problems could be solved or at least allievated if we had more families doing what they should be doing.