Notice that Alma begins his words to both Helaman and then to Shiblon by saying something like, “This is what I did when I was a young man.” How many of us begin talking to our children by saying, “Let me tell you all the mistakes I made when I was in high school”? Most of us would rather pretend those things never happened. I don’t think I have ever told my children all about the unwise mistakes of my youth.
Would it help our children if we were to open up more so that they could share their experiences or difficulties with us? When should we share this personal information with our children? When they are young, when they are teenagers, or when they are young men? Alma advised Helaman, “learn wisdom in thy youth” (37:35). If young children hear about your mistakes and what you learned from those experiences, they may better relate with you, love you more, and accept you more. I wonder, if you wait to share your vulnerabilities and the mistakes you have made until they are 16 or 17, they may feel betrayed by suddenly realizing that you are not as perfect as they thought you were. In their later teens, your children have already built up a certain impression about you. Maybe “learning wisdom in youth” means that we need to be open to discussing some of these things when our children are still relatively young.