Monitoring, supervision, and involvement
A strong family is involved with each other’s lives and there is supervision and monitoring. With Mormonism, the parents are able to be involved in their child’s life and make sure they are making the right decisions. But isn’t too much supervision a negative thing because it may push a child away? Children do need room to breathe, which makes Mormonism more appealing because you are not the lone monitor, but rather have many others to help supervise your children. The religion is volunteer based which means that the practitioners have “callings,” or volunteer responsibilities. This is so valuable to creating a strong family because children will have other adults who they can turn to for help and guidance. For example, there is a calling where a man is in charge of the youth group activities for teenage boys. This man will be able to supervise your child and help him make important life decisions. Similar programs are put in place for children and teenage girls. Research has shown that one of the greatest difficulties to having a strong family is divided beliefs. Professor’s Stokes and Regnerus from the Department of Sociology at the University of Texas concluded in their research that “When parents value religion more than their teens do, adolescents tend to report poorer relations with parents.”[i] These youth groups with their additional mentors will help your children discover their own beliefs, and together your family will share not only the same eye and hair colors, but a spiritual knowledge that will create a lasting bond.
[i] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WX8-4SWXDCJ-1&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cb3af825914c7d7daf0dee1c175206da
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