Tag: parenting

The Family Forum: The Hidden Family System

By Michael Farnworth Don’t forget to win first place Don’t forget to keep that smile on your face Be a good boy Try a little harder You’ve got to measure up And make me prouder We’ll love you just the way you are If you’re perfect —ALANIS MORISSETTE I’VE BEEN STUDYING families and their dynamics …

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The Opposite of Sound

By Courtney Miller Santo   WHEN IT BECAME known how close her son had come to dying, Janie’s friends brought food. The believers looked up and told her how blessed her family had been. Looking sideways, the nonbelievers invoked luck. Her friend Sarah was among the last to come. Sarah had caught Janie as she …

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Family Forum: What Is Really Motivating Us?

By Michael Farnworth   It seems to me that thoughtful Mormon parents should be concerned about moral agency as described in Doctrine & Covenants 101:78—   That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable …

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The Family Forum: An Introduction to Quantum Parenting

By Michael Farnworth Law and Love in the Family Obedience is the first law of heaven. The way we interpret this aphorism—one of the most famous in Mormonism—says a lot about our parenting style. The aphorism is based on D&C 130:20–21: “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, …

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The Family Forum: Sanctuary Trauma

  By Michael Farnworth This is the first of a series of columns dedicated to understanding and improving the dynamics of Mormon families. My premise is that we suffer from an exaggerated case of lip service and don’t actually afford the family as much devotion as we claim. Sure, in our church meetings, we talk …

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The Family Forum: “The Kid”: An Awakening Metaphor

By Michael Farnworth Michael Farnworth, Ed.D., retired from Ricks College after 31 years of teaching family psychology. He is married to Cindi Halliday and is father to Brad, Camie, and Jeff, along with their spouses Melinda, Nate, and Lindsay. He is grandpa to Joel.  Contact him at: farnworthm@yahoo.com.   Our behavior as sons and daughters, …

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Playdate with President Benson

by Stephen Carter Stephen Carter is the editor of Sunstone and author of What of the Night? a collection of award-winning personal essays from Zarahemla Books. He is stay-at-home dad to two almost-teenage sons and the world’s most beautiful toddler daughter.     Or, right-click here to download the audio file: Playdate with President Benson …

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