This weekend, my brother and sister-in-law from Wisconsin stayed with us. They've lived out of Utah most of their married lives and raised their family in the "mission field." They have good kids, great kids, really great Mormon kids.
While they were here, they visited their former bishop from Wisconsin who has moved to Alpine, UT. His kids have been having a hard time. "One of the girls in their ward came and told their daughter that she couldn't be her friend because her house wasn't big enough," she said. "The kids in the ward secretly have boyfriends and girlfriends, but so their parents don't find out, they ask each other's partners to the dances." The stories kept going and it was disappointing and frustrating and to me, as a mother and a Mormon, heartbreaking. But I wasn't quite sure how to respond to her summary statement, "We would never raise our kids in Utah."
I couldn't agree, because you see, I have raised all my kids in Utah, and I think my kids are good kids, great kids, really great Mormon kids.
But I could see her point.
- I heard on the news yesterday that pharmacies in Utah are taking all the cough syrup off the shelves and putting it behind the counter because kids are stealing it to get high.
- My daughters got a note reminding them to wear a white shirt for their Young Womens choir at stake conference. The note said the white shirt "should not be too tight."
- A seminary principal in Utah County is currently on trial for sexual misconduct with one of his teen students.
So what's a Mormon mother raising Mormon kids in Utah to do?
I'm still working this out, so look for another post on this topic...I need to think about it.
My Utah Mormons
