How do we teach our children about good and evil?

 How do we teach our children the difference between good and evil? How do we ourselves know what is good and what is evil? When Adam and Eve were brought to the Garden of Eden, they were told not to partake of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, they were also commanded to go and replenish the Earth. 

Satan tempted Eve, got her to partake of the fruit, then she told Adam to as well. Both partook of the fruit and were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Satan again tried to tempt them to follow him, but they didn’t, they wanted to listen to Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father helped to guide them to what is good and to stay away from what is evil. Just like Heavenly Father helped Adam and Eve, He will help us to teach our children.

In some ways, it was easier to keep children away from what is evil, they didn’t have access like today’s kids do. Nonetheless, Satan works hard to get us to fall into temptation. Today we have technology. It is a wonderful blessing, but it can also be a horrible curse. The technology that we have access to makes it so that we can find anything which our heart desires. How do we keep our kids safe from the evils of technology?

For many parents, they either put a safety protocol on the tech that they give their kids, or they get something like the Gabb phone that can only text and call. However, even with all these safety things, kids are persistent, and they will find a way to get what they want. Something that I hope to do when I become a parent is to try to have my kids not get smartphones until at least high school age. 

I look at all the kids in elementary school that have smartphones, and it blows my mind. No wonder there are so many problems with people being addicted to their phones, they haven’t had to function without them for so long. I want my kids to be kids, playing outside using their imagination, having a good stand on their self-confidence and so on. Kids these days look at the influencers, wanting to be as “pretty” or “talented” as the people on the screen are. These people are very talented, but they are nothing but fake. They only show the good things, never the bad, which makes a false sense that they have everything sorted out.

I want my kids to face challenges, to work hard. This is what was intended for us. We need challenges to know the difference in how much better the good is. With the rise of technology, people are finding ways to not face their challenges as often, so when people find one they can’t avoid it just crushes them. When we do go through trials and tribulations, we remember the good. I think that many people are trying to just fly under the radar, hoping they won’t have to face any challenges. This might be a reason why so many people have anxiety. 

I know that we aren’t supposed to live this way. We need to go through our challenges to grow. That is why we are here, is to grow. We are given technology to help us, but not do everything for us. Teaching our children the difference between good and evil will come as we listen to the Spirit for guidance, and, at least for me, keep my kids working hard to grow and learn. Just like Jesus is an example to us, we need to be examples to our children. This is how we will teach them.