The rest of my reply to the talk:
Sister Beck said:
3 President Ezra Taft Benson taught that young couples should not postpone having children and that "in the eternal perspective, children—not possessions, not position, not prestige—are our greatest jewels."4
Where it was stated, I do not recall, but President Gordon B. Hinckley said that women should be getting their education (if possible), and that a family should be semi-secure financially before having children. These things are very important.
To just pop out babies without a care of how they are going to be cared for or anything like that is to invite disaster.
An to counter President Benson, most LDS couples who are postponing children are not doing it for possessions, position or prestige. They are doing it because they have 1)Conferred with each other and the Lord on the subject and gotten an answer 2 ) Realized that their current situation (whether low income or such) is not conducive to raising a children 3) Realized that getting an education is very important and that they want to provide for the family. (The women as well. You never know what will happen in a family and having an education whether she uses the degree or not will benefit her future children)
Sister Beck said:
Faithful daughters of God desire children.
Not all, and we should not lay the blame at their feet. There are some LDS women I know that really do not want children, but they will keep God's commandments and have them. (And in most cases, they realize how much they love their children and grow to love them). Just because you have one child doesn't make you any less faithful then someone who has eight.
Sister Beck said:
Mothers who know honor sacred ordinances and covenants. I have visited sacrament meetings in some of the poorest places on the earth where mothers have dressed with great care in their Sunday best despite walking for miles on dusty streets and using worn-out public transportation. They bring daughters in clean and ironed dresses with hair brushed to perfection; their sons wear white shirts and ties and have missionary haircuts. These mothers know they are going to sacrament meeting, where covenants are renewed. These mothers have made and honor temple covenants. They know that if they are not pointing their children to the temple, they are not pointing them toward desired eternal goals. These mothers have influence and power.
So Mother's who have children who run around screaming and then come to Church with a little dirt on their knee, their hair a little frizzy and just a little bit late with a stain on their clothing are less spiritual and aren't keeping the commandments?
Mothers cannot be perfect all the time, and to judge mothers because they do not fit the 'Betty Crocker' standard is ridiculous.
Sister Beck said:
To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking.
Actually, they are not synonyms.
dictionary.com said:
nur·ture
1. to feed and protect: to nurture one's offspring.
2. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster: to nurture promising musicians.
3. to bring up; train; educate.
–noun
4. rearing, upbringing, training, education, or the like.
5. development: the nurture of young artists.
6. something that nourishes; nourishment; food.
dictionary.com said:
homemaking
noun
the management of a household
There is a difference. An homemaking is something a father can do according to the actual definition of it.
Sister Beck said:
Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home.
According to the quote it includes a lot more then that. This statement just feels sexist. Women should not be the other ones doing these things; their husbands should be helping them, just as the wives should be helping the husbands.
Sister Beck said:
Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world.
Great, so if we aren't, we are a failure? Way to go, make us feel like crap if we can't keep to your standard of living.
Sister Beck said:
Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate.
Can be applied to the fathers as well as the mothers.
Sister Beck said:
. In equal partnership with their husbands, they lead a great and eternal organization.
Finally, mention of the fathers, the first time in the
entire talk I've seen them mentioned.
Sister Beck said:
These mothers plan for the future of their organization. They plan for missions, temple marriages, and education. They plan for prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. Mothers who know build children into future leaders and are the primary examples of what leaders look like.
Fathers should be included in this as well -- this is basically saying mothers know better then fathers, when that is not always the case.
Sister Beck said:
Who will prepare this righteous generation of sons and daughters? Latter-day Saint women will do this—women who know and love the Lord and bear testimony of Him, women who are strong and immovable and who do not give up during difficult and discouraging times.
And Latter-day Saint men. It bothers me so much that she does not include the father's and men in her talk. They are just as important, and if a mother is mentioned, so should the father. They work together, not alone.
Sister Beck said:
Latter-day Saint women should be the very best in the world at upholding, nurturing, and protecting families. I have every confidence that our women will do this .
And if we aren't, have we really failed? That's what she is missing, she needs to be saying some of these things and the encouraging the women by saying that even if not all of these happen at once, or even happen at all, as long as you are trying your hardest, that's what really matters. Life doesn't go by a play book, or the "Betty Crocker" standard.
