---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - President Joseph F. Smith
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 5
number: 4
published: 1902-02
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: "President Joseph F. Smith, \"Editor's Table—Parents Should be Consulted,\" *Improvement Era* 5, no. 4 (February 1902): 307–308."
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0504unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera0504unse
start_page: 307
end_page: 308
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1902-02)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0504unse
  publication_year: 1902
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1902, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# Editor's Table—Parents Should be Consulted

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PARENTS SHOULD BE CONSULTED.
One of the first duties that a young man owes in this world is
his duty to his father and mother. The commandment which God
gave early in the history of the Israelites: "Honor thy father and
thy mother" was accompanied with a promise that holds good to
this day; namely: "that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
With obedience naturally comes that respect and considera-
tion for his parents that should characterize a noble youth. They
stand as the head of the family, the patriarch, the mother, the
rulers; and no child should fail to consult them and obtain
counsel from them throughout his whole career under the parental
roof.
This feeling should be respected by the Church. Hence,
officers who desire to use the services of a young man, in any
capacity for the business of the Church, should not fail to consult
the father before the call is made. We have instances where
young men have even been called to fulfill important missions, their
names having been suggested to the Church by bishops of wards,
or by presidents of quorums, without the father having been con-
sulted whatever. The parents have been entirely overlooked.
This is neither desirable nor right, nor is it in conformity with the
order of the Church, or the laws that God instituted from the
earliest times. The Church is patriarchal in its character and

<!-- page:308 -->

308 IMPROVEMENT ERA. -
nature, and it is highly proper and right that the head of the
family, the father, should be consulted by officers in all things that
pertain to the calling of his children to any of the duties in the
Church. No one understands as well as the father, the conditions
that surround the family, and what is best for his children; his
wishes should, therefore, be consulted, and respected.
Our elders would justly think it wrong to baptize a wife with-
out the consent of her husband, and children without the consent
of the parents. So also, it is improper for any officer in the
Church to call the children in any family, as long as they are
under the care and keeping of the parents, to receive any ordina-
tion, or to perform any calling in the Church, without first con-
sulting the parents.
The family organization lies at the basis of all true govern-
ment, and too much stress cannot be placed upon the importance
of the government in the family being as perfect as possible, nor
upon the fact that in all instances respect therefor should be up-
held.
Young men should be scrupulously careful to impress upon
their minds the necessity of consulting with father and mother in
all that pertains to their actions in life. Respect and veneration
for parents should be inculcated into the hearts of the young peo-
ple of the Church — father and mother to be respected, their
wishes to be regarded, — and in the heart of every child should be
implanted this thought of esteem and consideration for parents,
which characterized the families of the ancient patriarchs.
God is at the head of the human race; we look up to him as
the Father of all. We cannot please him more than by regarding
and respecting and honoring and obeying our fathers and our moth-
ers, who are the means of our existence here upon the earth.
I desire, therefore, to impress upon the officers of the Church
the necessity of consulting fathers in all things that pertain to
the calling of their sons to the priesthood, and to the labors of the
Church, that the respect and veneration which children should
show for parents may not be disturbed by the Church, nor over-
stepped by its officers. In this way, harmony and good will are
made to prevail; and the sanction of the families and the family
life, on which the government of the Church is based and perpet-