Happy Parents Happy Children

Brother and Sister Hansen are good parents. They love their children and spend a lot of time with them. They help them with their schoolwork and encourage them to develop their talents. They have family home evenings and family activities regularly.

But feelings of unity and happiness are often missing in the marriage.

Like many husbands and wives, Brothers and Sister Hansen think that if the children are happy the parents will automatically be happy too—and they invest most of their time and effort in the family. But we’ve found that the reverse can also be true: happy parents generally make happy children.

In a home where parents put a strong emphasis on their own relationship, day by day working to strengthen the bonds of love between themselves, the children feel secure. They learn patience, tolerance, kindness, love, and forgiveness by seeing the example of their parents—not merely by hearing lessons about them.

One of the best ways to have happy, secure children, then, is to have a happy, secure marriage.

A Relief Society lesson a few years ago emphasized well the influence the husband-wife relationship has on children in the family:

“Marriage is the foundation upon which all other relationships in the family are built. The relationship between husband and wife is the basis for everything else in the family …

“Beginning when the child is very young and continuing through maturity, the family environment and more specifically the relationship between father and mother provides an example for the child as he interacts with others. The way the child is included in the parents’ relationship, or the way the child feels he affects his parents’ relationship, is probably the single most important factor in his personality development. Thus—

“Exhibiting warm, caring actions toward your spouse can be interpreted by the child as acceptance of himself as well.

“Responding to your spouse cooperatively rather than competitively should help the child to be cooperative and fair rather than maneuvering and spiteful …

“Having an increased zest for marriage and life in general will provide the necessary model for the child to develop appropriate attitudes for his future life.”

We’ve found this to be true in our own family. When we were first married, Ed would occasionally come home upset about something that happened at work. As he walked in the door, Ann would immediately wonder what she had done to make him irritable. It took many reassurances for her to understand that Ed wasn’t angry with her. We have noticed a similar reaction in our children when the two of us have been disagreeing about something. They seem to feel an element of responsibility for our problems.

By the same token, they seem to feel peaceful and secure when we are on good and friendly terms. And they’re more cooperative and considerate when that’s the feeling of our marriage.

How can husbands and wives better their marriage? It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that obedience to the basic commandments alone will automatically ensure a happy marriage. In marriage one needs to apply additional principles and instructions from the Lord, and every husband and wife need to focus specifically on improving their relationship—and be willing to spend the time and effort necessary.

Carlfred Broderick, a stake president and professional counselor, says: “People come to me and say, ‘President Broderick, we pay an honest tithe, we keep the Word of Wisdom, we attend to all of our church meetings and duties, and yet we have a miserable marriage. How can you explain that?’

“I remind them of the scripture that ‘there is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—

“‘And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.’ (D&C 130:20–21.) Laws of marital success are made clear in section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants and in chapter 12 of Romans [D&C 121; Rom. 12], among other places.”

Relationship principles are sometimes more difficult to learn and obey than principles of individual righteousness because they involve not only our own feelings and attitudes, but also those of someone else. And yet, in order to obtain the blessing of happy, loving relationships, we have to obey the principles upon which they are based.

Perhaps the most simply stated of all marriage relationship principles is found in the fifth chapter of Ephesians:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord …

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” (Eph. 5:22, 25.)

Examining this passage has helped us understand three very important ways to strengthen our marriage. How does a woman learn to esteem her husband and follow him as she would the Lord? How does a man learn to love his wife as much as Christ loved the Church? The answers to these questions lie partially in the example of Christ himself. (1) He always treats us with great care, (2) he knows us, and (3) he has spent his life in service to us.

Following the Savior’s example, husbands and wives should treat each other with care and courtesy, come to know each other well, and serve or help one another. In an atmosphere of consideration, understanding, and service, husbands and wives open the way for the Lord to magnify their love for one another and their happiness as individuals and as a family.

We have found that there are certain times when it is particularly important to be caring, understanding, and helpful: when there’s a death in the family, when someone in the family is ill, when the family moves, when your companion has done something wrong, when your companion is tired or worried, when your companion has a church assignment to fulfill, when company comes, on Sundays, on vacations, during holidays.

Praying specifically for the Lord’s help to more fully understand and appreciate each other is essential. We’ve also found it very helpful to prayerfully read together our patriarchal blessings, personal histories, or family history from time to time. Sincere attempts to draw closer to each other’s family and understand them better can bring deeper understanding as well.

In our marriage, we have found that the increasing responsibilities of having children, working, and fulfilling our church assignments can easily fill all our time. Tender feelings and gentle courtesies are easily crunched or pushed aside unless we make deliberate, cooperative effort to have some regular time for just us.

A few years ago we decided we needed a weekly date. We go for walks. We hike up in the hills. We clean the house for a sick friend. We plan our budget or go to the library or plan outings and surprises for the kids. Sometimes if we can afford it we go to a play or a movie, occasionally with good friends.

Besides returning home feeling refreshed, we also find that our children take an added interest in us.

Another indispensable time together is our weekly husband-wife planning session. Although it took us almost a year to make it a habit, we now wonder how we ever got along without it. It helps us have more interest in what the other is doing. It helps us realize how important we are to each other and to our children. It gives us time to look at ourselves and at the children and decide on a course of action to meet our problems. For example, when we’ve noticed that one of the children is misbehaving, we’ve discussed various courses of action we should take. Sometimes we notice that important items such as family histories and letter-writing are going undone and we schedule time to work on these tasks. We also plan our dates, special time with the children, details for family home evening, Sunday activities, and our schedule for home teaching and visiting teaching. At first we found that often we were too tired or too lazy to follow through on our plans. But we eventually made a rule that unless someone was sick, we would do what we had planned. We found ourselves much happier when we obeyed that rule.

For us, Sunday is the best time for these weekly planning meetings. It usually takes between fifteen and thirty minutes, occasionally longer if big events or unusual problems need more talking over.

We have discovered how vital it is to work on our marriage—our most important human relationship. When we take time and energy to treat each other well and to know and serve each other, we grow in love for one another and find greater satisfaction in our dealings with our family and with other people. When we have bad feelings toward each other, we find it difficult to be warm and kind and peaceful with our children and with others. When we pray with all our hearts and work with all our might to treat each other as Christ would treat us, we find solutions to our problems.

Although right now our children take a great deal of our time and attention, we realize that someday each of them will leave us and be sealed to a companion. If we are worthy, we will enjoy continued association with them throughout eternity. But our closest relationship will always be as husband and wife. Any successes we have in strengthening our ties to each other will last forever. And we will find even greater happiness in our hearts if we give our children a precious gift—the example of a growing, fulfilling marriage.