Apparently

I've been the dumbest person on the planet at least five times. How about you?
 

It’s not the cough that carries you off

 

As any parent can tell you, the struggle is real. 

Light the World: Love Mom & Dad

I was amazed to discover how much smarter my parents had gotten when I came home from my mission. They got smarter when I got married and even smarter when I had kids. 

Nowadays when I hear someone say, "You remind me of your dad" I think of it as a good thing!

Light the World: Pick up the phone

Call your parents today and let them know of your love for them.

That doesn't work for everyone, I know. My parents have passed on, so I'm going to write a letter for my journal about my parents instead.

Others may come from situations that were perhaps a little more rough. There's someone you can think of who acted as a mentor or played a parental role.

And there's always our Heavenly Father. You can give that a try!

Hearing voices

I think it would be wrong for me to say that this is based on a real life experience.

What's your style?

I thought this might be good thing to share for Father's Day weekend. A few years ago I worked on a handbook for teens, "How to Raise and Train Your Parents."

One page showed examples of different styles of parenting. The top example is "Do as I say, not as I do." Below is "The involved parent."

There are two other types that we listed: "The invisible parent," who is  never there, and "The Cleavers," parents who live in La-La Land.

The text asks kids to identify what kind of parents they have, and what kind of parent they want to be. It's all part of a bigger plot to help guide youth to become well-adjusted adults.

You can see the full page by clicking on the bottom photo.

Looking back

If you have children and you haven't had this conversation, don't worry. You will.

On the second day...

The first day's all busy and everything is helper skelter and everyone is all excited. The second day, well, they're on their own!

Every little bit helps

There's an additional video that addresses the subject of bullying, this one aimed at a younger audience: http://youtu.be/9nGUUdHflY4