Eagles and Driver Licenses

I can't imagine my boys not earning their Eagles or my daughters not earning their Personal Progress. I would like my boys to earn their Duty to God, although I'm not as worried about that.

I don't think it's appropriate to hold something like a child's driver license over earning such an award.

I like the idea of teaching our children correct principles, modeling those principles in our own lives, and then giving them enough rope to either be productive or hang themselves. Not literally. Obviously at some point you step in and take drastic steps to avoid major life changing issues.

Children who are rebellious, lazy, doing poorly in school (I'm thinking really poorly, not just like B average poorly, but to the extent where they are being irresponsible), bad drivers, or otherwise not deserving of a driver license should not receive their driver license. That's probably not the real list but rather one I just made up right now and am not going to think much about. The point is that each child is different, so when it becomes time that it is an issue, you work it out with each child individually.

I can see daughter #2 coming straight out and telling us she doesn't even want to drive even if deep down she is desperate to. If there is something she is worked up about related to some award she doesn't want to be pressured to get, everything else in the entire world, good or bad, can be stacked up on every side, and she will retain her laser focus on not wanting to earn the stupid award. She will even be convinced herself that she doesn't want to drive. Until she wants to, at which point she will forget that she just told us 5 minutes ago that she doesn't care if she can drive.

Daughter #1 will have her Personal Progress earned the first day it is possible to have it whether or not there is any external reward for it.

The kids will be expected to help shuttle their siblings around as part of earning the privilege of driving. My parents didn't make me pay for my portion of the car insurance, but I think it's a good idea for them to understand at a deeper level that the cost of a vehicle is more than just the gas you put into it. Better grades and no tickets means lower insurance costs. You have to find a job and balance your time wisely in order to keep your grades up and earn the money you need and still participate in family and school activities.

I want my children to be responsible. If they are, they will probably earn their oh-so-important awards anyway just because they are responsible. If they are not responsible, not earning their awards may be a sign of that. They may also be very responsible but simply have to make decisions about what is important to them and the Eagle or Personal Progress may not be that. With the kids in my troop, I can tell within a few weeks of working with them whether or not they will get their Eagle. I think I know my kids a lot better than that so there should be no surprise to anyone if they earn it or not.

The Lesser Law of Correlation

While I've heard or read a few different people talking recently about how boring, unspiritual, or somewhat stifling our church meetings are sometimes, especially sacrament meetings, I rarely feel the same way.

I feel like I get out of church meetings what I put into it. The best way to get something out of temple attendance, sacrament meeting attendance, participating in sunday school classes, scripture reading, prayers, etc. is to go into it with a question in mind. Whatever the topic, start thinking and asking questions about it, and very quickly everything you see will be focused around that topic. It's pretty amazing to watch.

One of our local leaders recently gave a presentation regarding how many of the changes coming from church headquarters are actually moving away from the bureaucratic, centralized direction of the past in favor of more direction from local leaders. Examples of this are the new church handbook, recent changes to the Duty to God program, the ward council structure, etc.

If anything, they are putting the ball in our court to see what we will do with it without being commanded in all things. If we're not ready for the higher law, we're going to go back to correlation and centralization. I don't think that's good for anyone, but if we're only ready for the lesser law at this time, it's all we're going to get.

New Duty to God Program

A couple hours ago, during the Saturday morning session, President Eyring announced a new Duty to God program. He didn't give details but did say that there would now be one book for all the groups instead of three books (one for each) like there is now.

LDS.org has a little additional information, but not much. There are still going to be different requirements and certificates for each priesthood quorum; they will just all be contained in one book. It's interesting that while there are certificates of completion, the church points out that the principal method of recognition is presenting the young man to the ward or branch for advancement to the next quorum.

The young men will have the option to finish up the old program requirements they're currently working on but will be encouraged to switch to the new program when it becomes available sometimes this summer.

A change that I would like to see is to allow YM leaders to also earn the award. YW leaders can complete Personal Progress by serving for a year and completing 3 of the 8 areas from that program. It makes sense that the YM leaders would be able to earn Duty to God also. It's not that we need the award to keep us motivated, but I believe it helps keep the boys motivated if they know their leaders are working on the same requirements, and it keeps us honest.

In Varsity Scouts, leaders can earn the letter and pins that the boys earn, plus leaders from all branches of scouting have the training knots they can complete. On the church side of things, leaders can earn the On My Honor award. My experience is that few youth or leaders receive On My Honor, even though if you're doing what you should be doing you earn it. I'd like to see more people get awarded what they earn. If you earn it, you should be recognized. If you don't earn it, that means something isn't happening that should be happening, and keeping the requirements for the award in mind will remind everyone what they should be doing if the program is working right.