Latter-day Saints, whose members are sometimes informally referred to as Mormons. He said,

“Dear friends, future happiness and even the future of nations is linked to children. Families with children need to be re-enthroned as the fundamental unit of society. We simply must value children more than we do! Without a new generation to replace the old, there is no wealth; without families, there is no future.”

The traditional family is a fundamental principle of Mormonism. Mormon beliefs center around Jesus Christ as the head of the church, and the family as the fundamental building block of society. Children learn their first values from their parents, and parents should always be the primary teachers of values. Churches and other organizations can only support the family in this process, not replace it.

Mormons have many programs to support families. Some involve practices carried out in the home. A practice that has received much attention and has been emulated by many who are not Mormon is the Family Home Evening program. Every Monday night, Mormon families turn off the telephone and close the doors to outsiders. This evening is devoted entirely to strengthening the family. Generally, the family-only meeting begins with a song and prayer and the conducting of family business. Then a lesson on an essential spiritual or moral lesson is taught. Following the lesson, families play games and enjoy treats before closing with a song and family prayer.

A unique feature of Family Home Evening is that each family member participates in the program. Most families have a chart that rotates assignments, often pairing young children with someone older. In the security of the home, children learn to lead a meeting, conduct a song, offer a public prayer, and teach a lesson. The meeting gives parents an opportunity to share sacred beliefs with their children and for children to learn and share their own beliefs. It also serves to strengthen the family bonds, which increases the ability of the parents to influence their children over the years.

The prayers offered in this meeting are only two of many given in the home. Mormon families gather for family prayer twice a day, in addition to their personal prayers and the prayers of the husband and wife together. Generally, the morning prayer includes a brief devotional, in which family members read the scriptures together and discuss them. Once again, parents have an opportunity to demonstrate how important Jesus and His gospel are to them, and to spend time with their children.

On Sundays, families attend the main worship service together. Even babies and small children are welcome and the increase in noise and movement from the little ones is accepted without complaint by church members because they understand how critical this meeting is for children. Even though the toddlers and babies do not understand much of what is said, they are experiencing church snuggled in a parent’s arms or playing quietly beside them, making their first memories of church pleasant. As they become a little older parents are able to begin training their children to be reverent in the church setting, rather than leaving it to teachers. All learning begins in the home.

The Mormons value their children. They have worked to create programs that support parents in the challenging work of training children to live the gospel. Organizational leaders and teachers understand they do not replace or come first before the parent, but only support them in their efforts by being an additional witness of the truth.

Formal classes begin at eighteen months. After attending the main worship service, known as Sacrament Meeting, as a family, families split up for various classes. The toddlers, ages eighteen months to three years of age, attend the Nursery Class. Here, although there is some playtime, children learn in age-appropriate and fun ways about Jesus Christ and His teachings. Older children have more structured classes, but which also teach through activities and music. Children ages eight to twelve have a weekday program as well. In most areas, boys belong to the Cub Scouting program through the church and girls belong to Activity Days. In areas where Boy Scouting isn’t approved, the boys use the girls’ program.

In these programs, children learn to set and achieve goals, to put gospel principles into action in the real world, master practical life skills, and serve others. For instance, girls might learn to hand sew and then make hand-sewn toys for needy children after learning that Christ taught us to serve others. A group of young boys might learn to cook simple meals for themselves and then make cookies to take to a retirement home. The gospel taught on Sunday is put into practice during their weeknight activities.

Mormon families are regularly counseled to put their families first, making certain employment and civic activities don’t get out of balance and deprive children of active parents. The Church offers parenting classes and many lessons include help for parents. Church men and women can turn to other parents for support and mentoring on an informal basis as well, because congregations are assigned by geographical boundaries and normally include a wide range of ages and experiences.

These support systems are one reason Mormon families are noted for their lower divorce rate. Both marriage and parenting are considered priorities in a Mormon home. Because marriage that takes place in a Mormon temple is forever, and not just until death, Mormons have a strong motivation to create strong loving families that can continue into eternal life. Husbands and wives can continue to be married after death, and children can continue to belong to their parents.

Society has a vested interest in the well-being of its families. At the same conference, Sheri L. Dew, also a Mormon, said, “We all know that every nation is ultimately at the mercy of its families. If families are riddled with problems, society eventually collapses under the weight of problems too vast for any government to meet. If families are strong, society is strong.” (See Sheri L. Dew: The Power of Virtue.)

In order for our society to succeed, we must begin to put families first and value the work of the parents who care for children. We must treat the children as if they matter.

Those who read the Bible remember that there was a day when Jesus had been working long, hard hours. A group of parents showed up late in the day with their children, but the apostles turned them away. However, the Savior summoned the children to Him, instructing His apostles to never turn away children. He demonstrated for His followers that day that He made children a priority, even during times of exhaustion. He understood that what children learn as children they generally take into adulthood. For this reason, we can’t wait until we have time to take care of the children of our world. As Elder Nelson said in the statement at the start of this article, “Families with children need to be re-enthroned as the fundamental unit of society.”

“We all know that every nation is ultimately at the mercy of its families. If families are riddled with problems, society eventually collapses under the weight of problems too vast for any government to meet. If families are strong, society is strong.” (See Sheri L. Dew: The Power of Virtue.)

Laws can demonstrate a nation’s priorities and enforce behavior, but deep, lasting change happens on a more personal level. When we read biographies of famous people, they nearly always begin with a study of the person’s family history and demonstrate how that affected the person’s choices in life. Parents and other family members have the most opportunity to influence the thinking and behavior of their children. While each person has agency—the right to choose for themselves how to live—children are most likely to eventually emulate their parents.

A parent has access to a child’s mind at the ages in which a child is most easily influenced. A child who grows up doing service projects from his earliest moments will consider that a natural way of life, just the way people live. A child who lives in a home filled with books will feel uneasy being in one without them. A child who has gone to church with his family every Sunday of his life will feel an odd little urge at the appointed time if he grows up and tries to stop going, especially if it was a pleasant experience.

It’s when a child is small that we have the best chance of helping him become the right sort of person. Those people who spend the most time with the child each day have the most influence.

Once a child has his values in place, he goes into the world to live accordingly. As an adult, it is very likely his life will reflect the way he was raised. The details may be different, but the overall values will be the same. This is why nations are at the mercy of families. Citizenship classes are not the means for creating good citizens, although they might help. It’s the family nations depend on to train up a child in the way he should go.

If we want the hungry fed, we have to take our children to a food bank with a bag of groceries so they will continue the battle when they grow up. If we want an educated population, we need parents who read to their children, take them on educational outings, and arouse their curiosity about the world. If we want a generation that obeys the law, we first need parents who set the example by obeying the law themselves and who talk to their children about this.

Nations are at the mercy of families, and this is very good news. It gives families a good amount of control over the world in which they live. While setting the course for your own family may not seem like much of a change, each of your children can go on to influence hundreds more, and within a few generations, influence multitudes of family members, in addition to people in the outside world. The Mormons have a number of traditions and routines which can help to strengthen families of any faith, and are easily adaptable to the faith of any given family.

One is family home evening. Each Monday night, Mormon families gather together to pray, sing, learn the gospel as taught by their own family members, and play. This treasured tradition ensures parents have an opportunity to impart values to their children. It also helps them strengthen the bonds that will increase the chances the child will emulate his parents.

Another tradition is family prayer and family scripture study. Mormon families gather each morning for a brief devotional which includes a family prayer, scripture study and discussion. In a busy day it can be a challenge for parents to get everyone together for those fifteen to twenty minutes each morning, but they find the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

Mormon families also attend church together. From birth, children sit in the basic worship service, known as Sacrament Meeting, with their families. While this admittedly makes Mormon services a bit noisier and busier as toddlers escape their parents and babies whimper, these children never know a day when church has not been part of their Sabbath. They spend the meetings cuddling with a parent or playing quietly in their seat, and this time becomes a treasured memory and a critical routine. Only after this service do children go into classes meant just for them while their parents attend their own meetings. Mormons don’t drop their children off at church; they attend with them.

Small additions to the week can make a big difference in setting the stage for the future of our nations. As parents give children the values and the skills they will need to be good citizens and to fix the challenges our world faces, those children grow up to influence yet another generation. While it’s not an over-night cure for what ails our world, it is the most certain way to improve it for the long-term.

Gordon B. Hinckley, the previous Mormon prophet, said:

I am more concerned about the moral deficit in our nations than I am about their budget deficits, though that, too, is a most serious matter. Do societies need more policemen? I do not dispute it. Do societies need more prisons? I suppose so. But what they need, above all else, is a strengthening of the homes of the people. Every child is a product of a home. Societies are having terrible youth problems, but I am convinced that they have a greater parent problem. I am grateful that we of the Church have for a long time taught and are teaching and spending a substantial part of our resources to fortify the homes of our people….What can be done? We cannot effect a turnaround in a day or a month or a year. But I am satisfied that with enough effort we can begin a turnaround within a generation and accomplish wonders within two generations. That is not very long in the history of man. There is nothing any of us can do that will have greater longtime benefit than to rekindle wherever possible the spirit of the kind of homes in which goodness can flourish.

(See Gordon B. Hinckley, “Four Simple Things to Help Our Families and Our Nations,” Ensign, Sep 1996, 2.)