Agency: The Gift of God

  One of the most important things I learned while taking my class on parenting this past semester was something I realized I would really need to be aware of as a parent: agency. It's tempting to tell your children exactly what to do at any given moment, from who they hang out with to how they spend their time at home. However, think about it long term, and you realize something... making every decision for your child now will hinder their ability to choose for themselves in the future. In an article about agency from the Ensign magazine, it says "The earlier we can begin to teach the proper use of agency, the better. Even young children can begin to understand how to evaluate choices and consequences... we would never allow anything to happen that would harm them either physically or spiritually. But if we constantly protect them from the consequences of poor choices, they will come to expect that kind of protection as a part of life." I've really seen the effects of focusing on agency as I've observed the way my aunt deals with my little cousins. Though they are 2 and 3 years old, they are some of the most well-behaved kids I've ever met (and I promise I'm not biased)! They know there are consequences to their actions and rewards to others, and of course they're still kids and don't make good decisions from time to time, but for the most part they are amazing. They have really shown me that it's much more important to teach our kids how to make good decisions instead of making those decisions for them.