By Nathan Moulton
Randal A. Wright?s uncle once promised his children he would bring them back a bear from Yellowstone. When he saw one in a campground by the side of the road, he pulled the car over, coaxed the bear down from a tree and, with help from his brother, put it in the trunk. Though they could hear the bear protesting loudly the whole ride back, they successfully got it out of the park and took it home, where it was placed in a homemade cage.
?I?m not making this up,? said Wright, a Church Education System coordinator from Austin, Texas. He showed a picture of the bear being towed around town in its cage, just to prove it.
?Why do I bring this up?? he asked. ?You can?t always look to your parents for an example.?
Not being a good example was the first mistake Wright discussed of five that parents often make when teaching their children.
He quoted Elder Richard L. Ev-ans, who said, ?Parents who indulge themselves in moderation may have children who indulge themselves to excess.?
There are two main problems that may occur from parents not being good examples, Wright said. Children will not respect their parents and will follow in their bad examples.
The second mistake Wright dis-cussed was the failure of parents to teach children how to think about the consequences of their decisions.
He emphasized the counsel given in D&C 9:8, to study it out, and then ask the Lord if it be right.
Wright told a story from his youth, when he and some of his friends wrote their names in the wet cement at the base of a new church building?s steeple. To his dismay, the completed steeple did not cover the names.
?How would I know that one day I would become the institute director there?? he said.
Third, parents often neglect to help their children answer the why questions.
?Can we just answer their ques-tions? It?s okay,? Wright said. ?If the prophets say it, we should be able to back it up.?
Fourth, some parents neglect to teach their children.
?Some of us want others to teach our kids,? Wright said. ?Let?s worry about that later, after we?ve done all that we can do.?
He told a story about his wife, who was giving a piano lesson to a little boy still dressed in his soccer uniform from a game earlier in the day. The boy suddenly burst into tears and said he just couldn?t do every-thing his parents wanted him to.
The church cannot compensate for a lack of parental teaching, Wright said. ?It is very difficult to make up for homes that don?t teach.?
The last mistake Wright discussed was parents? avoidance of sensitive subjects with their children.
If parents do not talk about the sacredness of physical intimacy, for example, the children will be more prone to mess up, he said. Then their experience in marriage will not be as meaningful.