Teach repentance in family home evening

Let me generalize for a minute about parenthood. We all want to be good parents, and we want our children to be happy. We try to teach our children the principles of Christ's gospel so they will make good decisions in a world that grows increasingly wicked. We attend our church meetings, shoot for daily scripture study and prayer, and try to hold family home evening weekly. Now, about FHE: What do we teach?Often we focus on teaching our children to "be good" and to live the commandments so the Holy Ghost can be with and guide them. We talk about "what would Jesus do" and how we can be like Jesus. We warn against sin, against poor choices and about duties and responsibilities as members of Christ's church. We discuss various gospel principles and even practical things like money management or social graces, or we work together in the yard — groan! We do this, accompanied by family business, singing, treats and fun activities.This doesn't mean that we do not occasionally wonder why we even bothered to hold FHE because: a) nobody ever listens, b) all the children do is fight and complain, and c) before the night is over everyone has been sent to bed or grounded. And we sometimes muse, "Why don't they give it a better name, like family home agony." Of course, this is offset by special times, fun times, memories of wonderful activities, games, service and killer desserts!Yet I was brought up short the other day by an article that mentioned teaching our children something we often shy away from. The thinking goes something like this: I need to teach my children to obey the commandments, about the blessings they will receive when they obey, and about their duties and responsibilities to God. I'm not going to teach about repentance because then they will think, "Oh, no big deal, I'll just 'sin' and then I can repent." But we DON'T WANT THEM TO SIN! So we just teach them to obey.News Flash: Your children are going to sin.P.S. You sin.P.P.S. There is that Mormon Article of Faith No. 4 — "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: first, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, repentance...." Whoa! REPENTANCE. I don't think I fully "got it" until I began closely studying the teachings of the Savior, of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Doctrine and Covenants, heck, all the scriptures. The scriptures are replete with injunctions to REPENT. This is because life is tricky and life is hard. We put ourselves out there and as we experiment with this thing we call "life on earth." While we should always try to obey and to do what is right, it is inevitable that there will be missteps along the way.Have you or anybody you know playing basketball gone 8-for-8 from beyond the 3-point line, 10-for-10 within the arc, or 15-for-15 from the free-throw line in one game, with no misses?It just doesn't happen. You see, we get into the game and we give it our all — or we should — and we ARE going to throw the ball away, make the bad pass, double dribble, miss the shot, lose the opposing player we are guarding who goes in for the uncontested layup. But we keep playing and we get better, we improve.The Lord clearly understands this process. He tells us, "For I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance; nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven." Two sections later, "But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandments...."In the index to the triple combination, references on "Repentance" take up one and one-half pages; "love" fills one-half page — not that it isn't critically important but perhaps more because of humankind's propensity to err. When we teach repentance, and only when we teach repentance, we add another important weapon to the arsenal that family members can employ against Satan.Of course we counsel against sin, but if we refrain from teaching repentance we are, in a sense, leaving our children in a dark room with no way out. Far better to explain the process that allows them to escape sin, to flee darkness and embrace light. Teaching repentance also acts to mitigate sin because our children will understand the process and recognize the need to quickly nip sin "in the bud" before it escalates.Most importantly, as we teach repentance and as they repent they will come to know and understand the profound love the Savior has for them.