Our discussion in class today was incredible!!!  We talked about having family council within our own families.  What is family council you ask?

“Whenever there are two or more members of a family together and a discussion is going on, that is a council! Family councils can be held in one-on-one talks between a parent and a child or among parents and several children. When a husband and wife talk to each other, they are holding a family council.

I think of the traditional definition that says a family council is a time when a father and mother sit down and go through a list of dos and don’ts with their children. I was never able to make it work that way. I found that when the list came out, it turned the children off. So I tried bringing up a specific problem—such as the garden needs weeding—and then simply asked the family, “What can we do about it? What are your ideas?”

A council is when parents let their children help solve the problem. And when everyone agrees to a solution, everyone will have ownership of the problem. If I tell the family, “You go out and pull the weeds,” there may be complaining or hurt feelings. But if I can help them to feel, “We all decided this,” then the family council is truly working. Before you know it, family members will be organizing themselves, saying, “You do this and I’ll do that.” That’s the power of a council.”

            -Elder M. Russell Ballard

By having a regular family council you make sure your whole family is on the same page.  You talk about problems/issues that need to be addressed and you also express your love for each other.  We have only had a few family councils with my family that I can remember, but I do remember loving them because I felt that my parents cared about what I thought and it felt good to work together as a family.

 On my mission we had something called companionship inventory every week.  This is where you and your companion talk about strengths and weaknesses of your companionship, problems that need to be resolved, then you give constructive criticism and lastly you tell the person what their strengths are and why you love them.  I loved companionship inventory, I found it to be very productive and quite enjoyable.  I was able to express my gratitude for my companion while she expressed hers for me.  Of course there were some awkward moments when we needed to talk about problems that were going on, but once we talked through them everything was so much better.

I am most definitely going to have family council with my future family.  I know it will make us stronger as a whole.  Strength in families is very needed especially in these last days that we live in.