Posted by:
exminion
(
)
Date: September 17, 2018 04:29AM
I had been inactive, along with my husband and children for several years. When we got divorced, my Mormon parents and other family members talked me into returning to church, because "It's the best way to raise children," and I was a single mother, and needed "a support system" (yeah, right).
We had been dumped-off in SLC, and I thought I was returning to the church of my California youth. Was I ever wrong! Not only did I not recognize the community, I didn't recognize most of the teachings! The ward members were all fanatic fundamentalists--at least, that was we Californians would have called them.
When change doesn't come gradually, the frog can't adjust slowly to the boiling water. The priesthood leaders were downright abusive to my children, and they were great kids, just curious and wanting to make sense of the world. We resigned. MY sons joined a neighborhood Christian Boy Scout troop, and had many great adventures. My kids enjoyed school plays and music and activities, and all kinds of private lessons. They joined baseball, soccer, and basketball teams. They skied, played tennis, bicycled, hiked, went to movies and parties with their friends--and had after-school jobs. Their truest and closest friends were all non-Mormons. They found all those things in our family, the community, at school, and with great friends. AS adults in the real world, they are very well-adjusted, happy, and successful.
The bottom line is that they didn't need all that organized Mormon activity. Good parents can provide a great life for their children, without church interference.
On a positive note, this "correlation" garbage might be the reason young people are finding their real life and friendships OUTSIDE the cult--and that is a good thing. My kids have friends of all races and cultures, which they would not have been able to enjoy within the confines of the cult.
In the old days, my Mormon friends and I all went to BYU together. Now, BYU is much harder to get into, and if kids can get into BYU, they can get into a much better university than that.