Councils in the Home

Why is making a decision together important? Elder Ballard gives three reasons: 1. If there is no involvement, there is no commitment. 2. There is no blame whether the results are good or bad. 3. It is easier for others to support that decision. My parents were really good about gathering all of us kids together for family councils on Sunday evenings. They were sure to involve us in decisions and I knew it was a time that I could bring up any issue freely. Believe it or not this tradition is actually one of my happiest memories of growing up. That and family prayer at night were the times that we really bonded as a family. We joke that family council takes three hours :). I don’t know that it is quite that long. But we do get off topic often and just start to joke around. That it always takes longer than it needs to be. I don’t care so much about the “wasted minutes” because they aren’t wasted to me.