I especially wish to praise and encourage young mothers. The work of a mother is hard, too often unheralded work. The young years are often those when either husband or wife--or both--may still be in school or in those earliest and leanest stages of developing the husband's breadwinning capacities. Finances fluctuate daily between low and nonexistent. The apartment is usually decorated in one of two smart designs--Deseret Industries provincial or early Mother Hubbard. The car, if there is one, runs on smooth tires and an empty tank. But with night feedings and night teethings, often the greatest challenge of all for a young mother is simply fatigue. Through these years, mothers go longer on less sleep and give more to others with less personal renewal for themselves than any other group I know at any other time in life. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Apr Conf 1997

Mothers, we acknowledge and esteem your faith in every footstep. Please know that it is worth it then, now, and forever. And if, for whatever reason, you are making this courageous effort alone, without your husband at your side, then our prayers will be all the greater for you, and our determination to lend a helping hand even more resolute. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Apr Conf 1997

Your mothers need you to be a champion of them. Never should a bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood be guilty of saying anything discourteous or disrespectful to his mother. Elder Joe J. Christensen, Oct Conf 1996

By divine commandment, spouses are required to love each other above all others. The Lord clearly declares, "Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else" (D&C 42:22). The proclamation states: "By divine design, 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 [see D&C 83:2-4; 1 Tim. 5:8]. [By divine design,] mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children." By divine design, husband and wife are equal partners in their marriage and parental responsibilities. By direct commandment of God, "parents have a sacred duty … to teach [their children] to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens [in the countries where they reside]" (ENSIGN, Nov. 1995, 102; emphasis added; see D&C 68:25-28; Mosiah 4:14-15). Elder Robert D. Hales, Oct Conf 1996

To the mothers of this Church, every mother who is here today, I want to say that as the years pass, you will become increasingly grateful for that which you did in molding the lives of your children in the direction of righteousness and goodness, integrity and faith. That is most likely to happen if you can spend adequate time with them. President Gordon B. Hinckley, Oct Conf 1996

Facing upward is crucial for successful parenting. Families deserve guidance from heaven. Parents cannot counsel children adequately from personal experience, fear, or sympathy.18 But when parents face children as would the Creator who gave them life, parents will be endowed with wisdom beyond that of their own. Wise mothers and fathers will teach members of their family how to make personal decisions based upon divine law.19 They will teach them that "this life is the time ·.. to prepare to meet God."20 They will teach them that decisions of a moral and spiritual character cannot be based on freedom to choose without accountability to God for those choices.21 With that understanding, parents and children will be rewarded with strength of character, peace of mind, joy, and rejoicing in their posterity. Elder Russell M. Nelson, Apr Conf 1996