The Sacred Responsibilities of Mothers

1
The Sacred Responsibilities of Mothers
Mothers are primarily responsible for the
nurture of their children. Proclamation, 7
2
The Meaning of Nurture
We men simply cannot nurture like you nurture.
Most of us don't have the sensitivity--spiritual
and otherwise--that by your eternal nature you
inherently have. Your influence on families and
with children, with youth, and with men is
singular. You are natural-born nurturers. Because
of these unusual gifts and talents, you are vital
to taking the gospel to all the world, to
demonstrating that there is joy in living the way
the prophets have counseled us to live.
(Elder M. Russell Ballard, Here am I, Send Me)

• Comprehensive
• Body, Mind, Spirit
• Complex
• Individual, evolving needs
• Constant
• Throughout time and eternity

3
The Meaning of Primarily Responsible
Prophets have consistently reinforced the
importance of mothers devoting their full efforts
to caring for their children and avoiding other
commitments that seriously detract from this
sacred responsibility of nurturing.
(Text, pg. 72)

• Pressures that Detract from Nurturing
• Time
• Money
• Status
• Facts on Maternal Employment in the US
• 13 million US preschoolers, (including 6 million
  infants and toddlers) in child care
• Roughly ¼ of American children are cared for by
  their parents
• Nearly 30 are in childcare centers
• 15 with family child care providers
• 5 with in-home caregivers
• 25 are cared for by relatives

4
The Devaluing of Motherhood
Todays UN committee on discrimination against
women promotes the claim of radical feminism that
motherhood is an oppressive concept designed to
perpetuate male dominationan outdated concept
that holds women back from seeking greater
fulfillment in paid work. (Elder Bruce C.
Hafen, The Moral Influence of Women)

• Personal Oppression
• Growing cultural disrespect of mothers
• Economic Oppression
• US Social Security and Divorce penalties

5
Re-valuing Motherhood

• Personal Development
• Nurturing life is the most profoundly
  transforming experience in the range of human
  possibilities. (M.K. Blakely, Working Mother)
• The critics who move mothers from dependence to
  independence skipped the fertile middle ground of
  interdependence. Those who moved mothers from
  selflessness to selfishness skipped the fertile
  middle ground of self-chosen service that
  contributes toward a womans personal growth.
  (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, The Moral Influence of
  Women)
• Cultural/Economic Contribution
• Patricia Holland has said, If I wanted to
  destroy society, I would launch an all-out blitz
  on women. What did she mean?Women have certain
  unique gifts that have long fostered crucial
  civilizing functions across many cultures. Yet in
  the last generation, we have witnessed a
  startling reduction in the performance of these
  functions. We are losing what these powerful
  female specialties contribute to cultural
  cohesiveness. (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, The
  Moral Influence of Women)
• Economists used to believe that national wealth
  came from three factors land, labor and capital.
  Now they recognize that human capital, or human
  knowledge, skills and entrepreneurship, are more
  important than all others put togetherMost
  human capital is created mothers and other early
  teachers and caregivers. Mothers are the most
  valuable producers in the entire economy.
  (Ann Crittenden, The Price of Motherhood)

6
I Really Lived Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley
I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a
shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored
clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long,
perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to
drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the
wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want
to be there with grass stains on my shoes from
mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there
with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from
making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's
children. I want to be there with a little dirt
under my fingernails from helping to weed
someone's garden. I want to be there with
children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the
tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the
Lord to know I was really here and that I really
lived.