by Jeff Muir

As a parent who shares custody of my two elementary-aged children, I have faced particular challenges to motivate my kids to learn about the gospel. Because my children’s mother is a member of another faith, my wife and I have been challenged to get our kids interested in the gospel without creating conflict and without making our kids feel as though we are trying to “sell” them on our LDS beliefs. Through prayer, patience, and faith in the Holy Spirit we have been rewarded beyond our most optimistic expectations.

My ex-wife and I got divorced when our children were 5 and 3. While we were together we did not expose our children to religion, mostly because we couldn’t agree on what to teach them. Their mother was a non-practicing Jew and I was from an inactive RLDS family, on my way toward converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My eventual conversion caused a great deal of mistrust, sending us all back to Family Court to figure out how to appropriately involve our children in different – but compatible – religious beliefs.

My biggest challenge was how to interest my kids in the Restoration without doing so in a way that would seem like I was undercutting their mother’s beliefs. Fortunately for all of us, not long after I converted I was also blessed with a wonderful lifelong LDS wife, who my kids instantly adored. In Family Court we agreed to allow the kids to attend Hebrew School and Jewish Sunday School during the school year, and to attend LDS services and events on holidays and during the summers.

We immediately realized that the best way to interest our kids in the Restoration was to involve them in family activities. Kids are almost always interested in doing things as a family, as opposed to being given “an assignment.” We purchased the Book of Mormon Stories book for kids, and began reading this together as a family each night before bed.
This has formed a wonderful foundation of gospel knowledge for our children.

Next, we purchased the complete set of Old Testament, New Testament, and Book of Mormon DVD’s from Living Scriptures. This represented a financial investment, but we agreed to compensate by renting fewer videos each month and reducing our cable TV service. Our older child was somewhat reluctant to embrace these “low tech” programs at first, but within only a week or two he came to really enjoy them – especially when we watched and discussed them as a family. Before long, a handful of these turned into “family classics” that our kids enjoy watching over and over again.

After developing some familiarity with the Restoration, Gospel and Scriptures, we took the kids to visit the Church historic sites in Palmyra, New York. This was easy for us, since we only live 80 miles away. Most people in the United States live within a day’s drive of a significant church historic site, so this is viable option for many families. Our children were tremendously interested in seeing and learning about the Smith family, the Hill Cumorah, the Grandin Printing Press, and other sites. This definitely deepened their interest in learning more.

We have also made sure to spend a lot of time on the Old Testament, reminding our kids of the Hebrew foundations of the Gospel and Restoration. They consider themselves both Jewish and Mormon, and they feel special because of their dual faith.

Finally, the most important element in getting our kids to learn and study more has been prayer, both individual and family. My wife and I pray frequently for our kids’ hearts and minds to be opened to the spirit. We also pray with the kids to help them develop a relationship with their Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit. It’s taken patience and time, but by getting everybody involved together and setting a good example, our family is definitely on the right track!

Jeff Muir is a member of the Amherst Ward, Buffalo New York Stake.