Raising a family can be one of the most difficult, yet most rewarding, tasks you can undertake. With so many negative influences in the world today, the focus on family has never been more important. These ten suggestions will help your family grow closer and closer to God.
1. Read the word of God together
When you read the scriptures as a family, you’ll invite God’s Spirit into your home. By reading God’s Word together, your children will learn how to apply God’s teachings in their lives and receive guidance for themselves. Even if you read just one verse together each morning, studying the scriptures will help your family grow closer to God.2
2. Serve others together
Perform small acts of service as a family. Whether it is formal volunteer service, picking up a neighbor’s trash, or simply bringing cookies to a sick family member. Charitable service will unite you as a family and bring you closer to your Heavenly Father. As the scripture says, “When ye are in the service of your fellow men, ye are only in the service of your God.” (Mosiah 2:17)3
3. Express love to each other often
Jesus Christ said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Tell your family members how much you love them, and do it often. Even if you are sure they already know it, expressing love will always bring happiness and will also invite God’s Spirit into your home.4
4. Pray together as a family
God blesses families who pray together with peace, love, and happiness in their homes. Whether you have young children or older children, family prayer can help your family grow closer.
5. Eat together
Make an effort to get the whole family together to eat together. Getting together to eat meals can help improve family relationships and will also help increase love in your home.6
6. Teach good values
As a parent, you have a responsibility to teach your children good values and principles. Teach your children about God and Jesus Christ. Help them understand the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Good values lead to good decisions, and good decisions always lead to God.
7. Go to church together
Attending church together will help reinforce family values and draw you closer to God. It can also help you feel a sense of belonging in a community.8
8. Develop traditions together
Traditions help your family feel like they are part of something bigger. Keep up the traditions you learned from your family and make new ones. Even if it’s something simple, like baking cookies every Sunday or going to Christmas carols, the traditions you have will create valuable memories and help your family grow closer.9
9. Learn from your ancestors
Teach your children about their parents, their parents’ parents, and the ancestors before them. Learning and recording family history will help your children understand that they are part of something much bigger than themselves – a beloved son or daughter in God’s eternal family.10
10. Hold a weekly family night
With all the demands of daily life, spending time with family can be a challenge. Latter-day Saints set aside one night a week for family. That night they spend time together, eat a special meal, learn about the gospel, and have fun. It’s a great way to put family first—after all, what could be more important than family?