Families

 As I sat this morning in a class on trauma and it's life-long  impact particularly on children, one line particularly jumped out at me.

As the expert researcher shared - trauma has risen sharply with the decline of the stable family unit. And it crosses economic, geographic  and racial subgroups.  

As she said,  no matter how hard we try, society cannot replicate the impact of a successful family.

That doesn't mean we can't try, and we were specifically learning about things we could do in education.

But she reminded us all to shore up our own families.  And what are the things that research shows matter most for kids? 

Reading together.

Dinner at the table as a family.  

Fun activities with all engaged, at least sometimes outside.

Time together.  

Telling stories together - especially parents telling about when they were young. 

Working together. 

Laughing together. 

This might be brand new research in terms of the specific outcomes for some of the groups, but our prophets have been giving us this counsel for decades.

President Ezra Taft Benson warned 40 years ago, "First, we need to strengthen families.  We must recognize that the family is the cornerstone of civilization and that no nation will rise above the caliber of its homes."

So whatever state your family is in right now- what is one thing you could do to make it stronger?  We don't have to be perfect to get better.  None of us are.  

Perhaps it's a good night for a walk, a story or a game- together.  

And remember to celebrate the joys more than you dwell on the hardships.  Because we were created to have joy in our families!