Father and Mother: Complementary Roles

"It is useless to debate which parent is most important. No one would doubt that a mother’s influence is paramount with newborns and in the first years of a child’s life. The father’s influence increases as the child grows older. However, each parent is necessary at various times in a child’s development. Both fathers and mothers do many intrinsically different things for their children. Both are equipped to nurture children, but their approaches are different. Mothers seem to take a dominant role in preparing children to live within their families, present and future. Fathers seem best equipped to prepare children to function in the environment outside the family.

"Parents in any marital situation have a duty to set aside personal differences and encourage each other’s righteous influence in the lives of their children."

James E. Faust, “Fathers, Mothers, Marriage,” Ensign, Aug 2004, 2–7