Love Her Mother

This past weekend was General Conference. Sister Elaine Dalton - General Young Women's President gave the best talk. It was an answer that all father's ask themselves when blessed to be a father to one of our Heavenly Father's Daughters...

"How do I raise a girl?"

taken from the talk...
"It is a simple answer and it is true — 'The most important thing a father can do for his daughter is to love her mother,'" she said. "By the way you love her mother, you will teach your daughter about tenderness, loyalty, respect, compassion and devotion. She will learn from your example what to expect from young men and what qualities to seek in a future spouse. You can show your daughter by the way you love and honor your wife that she should never settle for less. Your example will teach your daughter to value womanhood. You are showing her that she is a daughter of our Heavenly Father who loves her."...

..."Fathers, by definition, you are the guardians of your homes, your wives and your children. ... You must be the guardians of virtue."

"Your personal virtue will model for your daughters, and also your sons, what true strength and moral courage are. By being a guardian of virtue in your own life, in your home and in the lives of your children, you are showing your wife and daughters what true love really is. Your personal purity will give you power."

She also asked fathers to be present in their daughters' lives.
"Let her know your standards, your expectations, your hopes and dreams for her success and happiness."
Sister Dalton said Latter-day Saint fathers are "not ordinary men."

So, she concluded, "How do you raise a girl? Love her mother, lead your family to the temple, be guardians of virtue and magnify your priesthood. Fathers, you have been entrusted with our Heavenly Father's royal daughters. They are virtuous and elect. It is my prayer that you will watch over them, strengthen them, model virtuous behavior and teach them to follow in the Savior's every footstep — for He lives."

I encourage each of you to take the time to read the entire talk. Her words are so perfect and inspiring. And since it is our roles as women to support our men in being honorable Priesthood holders, this talk applies to us as well. We need to let our husbands love us. That sounds simple. But when I reflect about how much has changed and developed in the five years Aukuso and I have been together, sometimes I need to let myself be that girl he fell in love with and put aside some of the things that have changed both of us, for good and for bad.

I love being a wife and I love being a mother. I'm excited for this challenge to let my husband love me so that he can live the answer about how to raise his daugter.

**There is another part of her talk that said something to the effect of "If your daughter is on a date, and is late, GO GET HER." L-O-V-E-D it.