Mothers who Know part 4

Mother who know are leaders
AMEN!

We lead in the family with our husbands. I watched a family that only had a mother be the leader and therefore I learned how to be a very strong leader in the family. I’ve had to learn how to tone it down and let the Priesthood leader in our home stake a turn. But I think we have a happy balance of leadership in our home.

Mothers do help plan the family calendar. Most of what is on the calendar is what I put there. Very few things are from my husband. Not that he wouldn’t put them there, but he is only him and I do everyone’s calendar. And most of the stuff happens when he isn’t here.
“They plan for missions,...”. At our home we don’t have the sentence, “If you serve a mission…” it is “WHEN you serve a mission…”

“...temple marriage,...” Again the wording is “WHEN” not “if”.

“...education.” For a homeschooling family, again I say, “DUH!” Education is the ticket to everything and anything.

I really don’t want my children to think they have a choice. Not that I’m brain washing them, but from the thought, “if you fail to plan then you plan to fail.” My children need to plan for missions, temple marriages and their education and I need to help them with it.
Right now we are dealing with a 16 year old who has a TON of money at his disposal right now and trying to train him, guide him to save it because it will be gone so quickly when you pay $15K for a year at school or for a mission. He doesn’t see the picture and of course knows more than his parents. So frustrating.

Just this morning we were discussing how to run a proper meeting. I was voicing my frustration at the lack of good use of time in meetings. I hate the 15 minutes spent on “touchy feely” things at the expense of items on the agenda. That really gets me going and I mentioned that at breakfast. That started a discussion on what makes a great leader. It was actually quite an enlightening topic for both parents and children.

“Worldly models of parenting” I’m chuckling. I was reading in the newspaper how Britney Spears is handling all the hubbub around her situation. The article stated that she has over $50 million in the bank and that she is supporting her family and how fast she will go through it with her current habits and troubles. It then went on to say how her little sister took a huge hit financially with the announcement that she is pregnant (remember she is only 16) and that her mother’s book deal fell through. This is that made me laugh; her mother’s book was on “parenting.” Just the person I want to take advice from—a mother whose two daughters are so screwed up. Our models for parenting are found in Elder Golden’s talk (the very next one). They are founded in principles of truth and right. They are founded in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“These mothers are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most.” HOME! In other words—moms come home!