I am a child of God, and he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home with parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me, help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do to live with him someday.
As parents and leaders, we need to teach and mentor our youth individually. We must consider how we can best serve the children and youth in our lives. How we can help them be successful.
It is easy to forget that we have each had to learn all of the skills we now take for granted. We are teaching children who do not have our same background and experience. We mush help them understand the nuts and bolts of what we are teaching.
Children may find a variety of things we teach them confusing. Even things we feel are mundane may be confusing to younger people who lack our experience.
This article will cover two things we can each do to better lead and guide the children and youth in our lives.
Ask Questions
People don’t care how much you know until they know how much your care.
The best way to determine how we can help our children and youth is to ask them questions. Before they will care about what we are trying to teach, they must first know you sincerely care about them.
As we take the time to ask children and youth questions, we should seek to get to know them better. Ask them what they care about and why. Ask them what questions they have been pondering. Ask them what they are excited about.
When we ask these kinds of questions, it allows us to know what is important to them and how we can help them. This will also help us find where they are confused. As we better understand our children and youth we can help them understand what we are teaching. This will also provide opportunities to teach and share our testimonies with them.
Lead by Example
Our most impactful parental teaching is our example.
The best way for us to help our children and youth be successful is to show them a personal example of how live the truths we are seeking to teach them.
Teaching by example is done as we model the behaviors and actions that we are trying to teach our children. We may be teaching how to serve our neighbor, how to cook a meal, or how to mow the lawn. Regardless of what we are teaching, our children will learn more from our actions than they will from our words.
So how can we effectively teach by example?
When teaching the gospel, we best teach by example when our words and our actions are consistent with each other. Our children and youth are very smart. They can easily see when our words and actions are misaligned. When this happens our teaching loses power.
This does not mean we should cease teaching them until we are perfect. Rather, we need to show them that we are doing our best and help them understand that the Lord blesses each of us when we strive to serve Him.
When teaching skills and other lessons, we best teach by example when we work side-by-side with our children and youth. When we work and serve together we can model correct behaviors and actions. This will also help our children gain an appreciation for work and a job well done.
One pitfall we must all seek to avoid is confusing leading by example with taking over for our children. When we lead by example, we work to mentor and guide those we teach rather than just doing something for them. When we take our children by the hand and work with them we can help them learn and grow. When we take over for them, we rob them of their opportunity to improve.
Leading and teaching our children by example will allow all of us to see many more miracles in our individual lives. It will allow all of us to learn and grow together.
Conclusion
As parents and leaders, we must take the time to not only teach the children in our lives, but also to work to ensure they understand what they are being taught.
When we work beside our children and have open conversations with them, we can discover where they may be confused. Only in this way can we help them to gain a greater understanding of what they are being taught.