Permission to be Imperfect

I read an article last week on "Choose the Right." In general, I think that is the best course of action. I don't dispute that. And yes, we need to teach that to our children. Parents are responsible to teach their children, and we launch them into mortal life, so we must help them understand the choices before them and how to choose the right course.

But we also need to give them permission to be imperfect. Do they somehow think that we expect that they will always choose the right? That if they take a piece of candy from a friend's house or push down their little brother, then they have failed and fallen from grace? Along with choosing the right, we teach the steps of repentance, the way to be forgiven, and the truth that the Savior has paid for our sins. But do they really get that it's OK and normal and expected to make bad choices? Or do they feel an overwhelming sense of duty to always do right or else they will lose our love and approval? That's a heavy burden for little shoulders.

We're not teaching them that we won't love them anymore if they sin. But maybe we need to go a step further in the opposite direction--to share with them that we make the wrong choices, and we did when we were kids, and we will when we're much, much older than we are now. And Heavenly Father still loves us, and our parents still loved us, and we hope our children will continue to love us as we make mistakes and then correct them and repent--and that goes both ways. We will love each other and support each other and help each other to recognize poor choices and get back on track. We're going to do that a lot, but that's OK, because we continue to love God and to want to do right, and He will help us and forgive us and heal us.