Family Council

During the April 2016 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Elder M. Russell Ballard taught the importance of holding regular family councils.  He taught:

Please remember that family councils are different from family home evening held on Mondays. Home evenings focus primarily on gospel instruction and family activities. Family councils, on the other hand, can be held on any day of the week, and they are primarily a meeting at which parents listen—to each other and to their children.

 “This council can meet to discuss family problems, work out finances, make plans, support and strengthen [each other], and pray for one another and for the family unit.”2

This council should meet at a predesignated time and is normally more formal than any other type of family council.

It should start with a prayer, or it may simply be a natural extension of conversations already started in other settings. Please note that a family council may not always have a formal beginning or ending.

When parents are prepared and children listen and participate in the discussion, the family council is truly working!

A family council that is patterned after the councils in heaven, filled with Christlike love, and guided by the Lord’s Spirit will help us to protect our family from distractions that can steal our precious time together and protect us from the evils of the world.

Combined with prayer, a family council will invite the presence of the Savior, as He promised: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”4 Inviting the Spirit of the Lord to be part of your family council brings blessings beyond description.

Finally, please remember that a family council held regularly will help us spot family problems early and nip them in the bud; councils will give each family member a feeling of worth and importance; and most of all they will assist us to be more successful and happy in our precious relationships, within the walls of our homes."

Since Elder Ballard gave this talk we have been holding Family Council faithfully every Sunday evening.  During Family Council we pray, sing a song, pay our children for their chores done that week, and go over our calendar for the week working out any conflicts we may have.  Each child knows what to expect and how we can help one another.  We discuss family activities and lessons taught in church that day.  Our children look forward to family council each week, probably because they always get a treat paid their chore money.  We look forward to it because it gives us the opportunity to serve one another and bond with each other.

This is a picture of us eating dinner, but family council looks the same, just imagine pie on our plates instead of dinner:)