“I now invite the attention of the young women, young men, and children of the rising generation as I emphasize the importance of the Spirit of Elijah in your lives today. My message is intended for the entire Church in general—but for you in particular. Many of you may think family history work is to be performed primarily by older people. But I know of no age limit described in the scriptures or guidelines announced by Church leaders restricting this important service to mature adults. You are sons and daughters of God, children of the covenant, and builders of the kingdom. You need not wait until you reach an arbitrary age to fulfill your responsibility to assist in the work of salvation for the human family.”
– Elder David A. Bednar, The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn, LDS General Conference, October 2011.
What a fantastic photo, Amy!
ReplyDeleteRidiculous. Even 1 year olds? Come one. At the very least there should be a training requirement if we hold sacred our family records and temple work!
ReplyDeleteI think children should learn about family history. It is in everything that we do everyday - if the parents will teach their children about it. When I make my great-grandma's banana chocolate chip cookies we can have discussions about her. This is family history too.
DeleteWhen my husband is giving our child a priesthood blessing because they are sick, we can also in that time share the story about my 3rd great grandfather who blessed the Zuni indians and 406 were healed from small pox by the power of the priesthood.
This quote isn't all about FamilySearch Family Tree. It is about getting involved at any age.
This is a beautiful quote from Elder Bednar, Amy. Teaching our children of all ages to value family history and temple work is so very important.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is a beautiful quote. I guess they removed the 13 year old restriction for signing up for a FS account, with parents permission. Did they? But please, let's not turn youngsters loose on a complicated program such as Family Tree, with no supervision. Younger folks know computers better than older folks sometimes, but boy, they do not know about their families, unless, as Amy says, we as parents and grands teach them. They need to go slowly through the program treating each record as a real person with a history and story, and not just click on green temples that may exist. We have got to bring some sanity back to this situation. I love young people. I served as YM ward and stake president multiple times. I also taught jr. high and high school kids for 20 years and loved it. I also raised 7 children through teenage years, and now am helping with 35 grand kids. And maybe my experience with my students, children, and grands is what informs me that we need to supervise, teach and train at all steps on Family Tree. Let's not be naive.
ReplyDelete