Just what I needed...

Last week was a particularly hard week.  I really thought getting the kids back in to school would help things  a bit but not so.  It's canning season, the kids are involved in piano, clogging, soccer, and cross country which equates to lots of driving around, picking up, packing kids in and out of the car, etc. etc.  lots of snacks, schedules, practices, homework, reading, plus all the other stuff.  You know, menu's, laundry, tons of housework, mowing, and not to mention DJ's totally CRAZY schedule.  I was really just plain bummed all week.  I was just discouraged with the kids and tired of dealing with all of the little fights and complaints that each kid brings to the table.  I loved them all so much and they are really great kids but at times they can really try my patience.  Last week they were doing just that. 

Sunday morning while were getting ready for church we decided to listen to the conference talks from last April.  I listened to several talks but there was one that I listened to 4 times because it was as he was speaking to me.  It was by Lynn G. Robbins entitled, "What Manner of Men Ought Ye to Be?"  These are a few of my favorite parts of his talk:

A sweet and obedient child will enroll a father or mother only in Parenting 101. If you are blessed with a child who tests your patience to the nth degree, you will be enrolled in Parenting 505. Rather than wonder what you might have done wrong in the premortal life to be so deserving, you might consider the more challenging child a blessing and opportunity to become more godlike yourself. With which child will your patience, long-suffering, and other Christlike virtues most likely be tested, developed, and refined? Could it be possible that you need this child as much as this child needs you?

We have all heard the advice to condemn the sin and not the sinner. Likewise, when our children misbehave, we must be careful not to say things that would cause them to believe that what they did wrong is who they are. “Never let failure progress from an action to an identity,” with its attendant labels like “stupid,” “slow,” “lazy,” or “clumsy.”² Our children are God’s children. That is their true identity and potential. His very plan is to help His children overcome mistakes and misdeeds and to progress to become as He is. Disappointing behavior, therefore, should be considered as something temporary, not permanent—an act, not an identity.

The most important way to teach to be is to be the kind of parents to our children that our Father in Heaven is to us. He is the one perfect parent, and He has shared with us His parenting manual—the scriptures.

Though I felt really guilty while listening this talk, it was a good kind of guilty (if there is such a thing).  I really want to be better, I'm trying to change for the better this week, it's still been a stressful week, but in the particularly tough moments, certain statements from this talk come in to my mind and I'm able to handle things better.  I'm grateful for the inspired words of our leaders.  I'm looking so forward to another General Conference in 3 weeks and I know if I prepare, there will be talks that are meant just for me.  Heaven knows I need them.