Don't Look Beyond the Mark & Teaching Our Children To Understand

"Teaching Our Children To Understand"-Cheryl A. Esplin
-Raising children is a divine privilege and is a greater responsibility than we can handle on our own.  We must seek the Lord's help.
-Teaching is different than making sure they understand.
-We need to create an atmosphere where our children can feel the Spirit and we need to help them recognize what it is that they're feeling.
-Teach in the context of what they are experiencing in that moment.
-President Harold B. Lee taught, "Without experiencing a gospel principle in action, it is ... more difficult to believe in that principle".
-We can know they understand by their behavior when there are no punishments or rewards.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, "We all understand that the success of the gospel message depends upon its being taught and then understood and then lived in such a way that its promise of happiness and salvation can be realized".
-Teaching for understanding takes consistent and determined effort.
-We need to also teach by example and help our kids live what they learn.

*"Hit the mark", "Don't look beyond the mark"----the mark is always Christ.  Are you focusing too much on the application and missing the real point? (Jacob 4:14)
ex) If you're being an advocate for the family but you're a jerk about it, you're missing the point.  Christ would use love and charity to advocate for the family.
ex) If your kid has a hard time going to seminary, it could be just a problem with "early to bed, early to rise" and it has nothing to do with their love for the gospel.  Your application for getting them to go will change when you see the real problem or the real principle they're struggling with and you aren't "missing the mark".
*What is the principle your child isn't fully understanding? Let this guide your applications.
*We're too quick to go to behaviorism.  We need to be guided by doctrine/principle.
*Personal characteristic to develop or change: .....