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How do the roles of men and women complement each other in families?

How do the roles of men and women complement each other in families?

Prepare Yourself Spiritually

By divine design, Heavenly Father gave men and women different gifts and abilities to help them fulfill complementary roles as husband and wife. “Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose. … Fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145).

Resources to Help You Prepare

These resources are to help you prepare for the “Learn together” section of the meeting.

Questions to Ponder before You Teach

What examples have you seen of mothers and fathers who have complemented each other in their roles? How has a knowledge of these eternal roles affected your family?

How can you help the young men understand their divine role as future fathers? What can they do now to prepare for this role?

What can the young men do to prepare to learn? For example, they could read a talk, watch a video, or study a scripture related to this doctrine.

Teaching in the Savior’s Way

The Savior loved, prayed for, and continually served His disciples. He knew their interests, hopes, desires, and what was happening in their lives. What do you know about the young men you are serving? What can you do today to help them be ready to preside over, provide for, and protect their future families?

Meeting Outline

1. Counsel Together and Share Experiences

Led by a member of the quorum presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

Lead a discussion about items such as the following:

  • Our quorum: Who is missing today? What visits do we need to make? Who should we invite to an upcoming activity? Who needs our help and prayers?

  • Our duties: What assignments do we need to make? What assignments have we fulfilled? How have we invited others to come unto Christ, and how can we invite others now?

  • Our lives: Remind the quorum of the discussion from the last meeting. What experiences have we had with applying what we learned? What experiences have we had in the past few weeks that strengthened our testimonies of the gospel?

If possible, discuss these items beforehand in a quorum presidency meeting.

2. Learn Together

Led by a leader or teacher or a member of the quorum; approximately 25–35 minutes

After studying the above resources and following the inspiration of the Spirit, you may select one or more of the activities below to help quorum members understand the doctrine.

  • Write the following headings on the board: Father’s Responsibilities and Mother’s Responsibilities. Ask the young men to make a list of responsibilities the Lord expects fathers and mothers to fulfill. To help them make this list, invite them to search the seventh paragraph of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” (see Duty to God, 107) and relevant portions of Elder L. Tom Perry’s talk “Finding Lasting Peace and Building Eternal Families” and Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s talk “The Moral Force of Women.” What can they learn from these sources about the divine roles of fathers and mothers? How do these roles complement each other? How are these teachings different from what the world teaches? Invite the young men to share examples of times when they have witnessed parents fulfilling their complementary roles.

  • Invite the young men to search Moses 5:1–12 and list on the board all of the things that Adam and Eve did together as a couple (for an illustration, see Gospel Art Book [2009], no. 5). Invite the young men to add additional items to the list about how husbands and wives should work together as equal partners.

  • Show the video “The Women in Our Lives” or “Let Us Be Men.” What do the young men learn from the video about how husbands bless their wives? Ask the young men to think about the kind of husband they want to be someday. What can they do now to become that kind of person?

  • With the permission of the bishop, invite a married couple to visit the quorum meeting. Read together the section titled “Lifting and Helping in Our Complementary Roles” from Sister Linda K. Burton’s talk “We’ll Ascend Together.” What do the young men learn about how men and women support one another in families? Ask the visiting couple to speak about how they have helped each other fulfill their roles. Consider sharing how marriage has helped you or members of your family become better.

  • Invite the young men to list attributes that help women to be good mothers or nurturers. How does Satan try to weaken the influence of women? What can the young men do to support and encourage the influence of righteous women on the world? How can the influence of righteous women guide young men as they prepare to be husbands and fathers? As part of this discussion, the young men could read selected portions from Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s talk “The Moral Force of Women.” See, for example, the first two paragraphs and the three trends that weaken the moral force of women.

3. Plan to Act

Led by a member of the quorum presidency; approximately 5–10 minutes

  • Ask the young men to discuss any feelings or impressions they had during the meeting. What was meaningful to them? Is there something they can do personally or as a quorum to apply what they have learned?

  • Give the young men a few minutes to record what they will do in the coming weeks to act on their impressions. Invite them to share their ideas.

  • Remind the young men that they will have the opportunity to share their experiences at the beginning of the next meeting.

Related Youth Activities

Plan a Mutual activity that will help the young men apply what they learned in this lesson.