In class, we talked about the purposes of parenting.  The surprising thing is, is that parenting is more for the parents than it is for the children.  Some of the things that we listed include things such as: transmit values and traditions, teach our children of God, to practice and develop Godly qualities, to become refined in the parenting process, for us to learn as we teach our children, it is our sacred duty, and we are to prepare our children to survive and thrive in this world.  Most of these things that involve parenting are learning experiences for the parents.  As we teach our children characteristics and principles of the Gospel, we truly learn more about those and it is an opportunity for us to set the example by following them.  In my Family 100 class, my teacher said "Telling isn't teaching."  We cannot just tell our children things and expect them to completely understand and learn, we have to show them what we want them to know by being an example for them. We also talked about parenting in gay marriages.  Children need to have a male and a female influence in their lives, when children have parents of the same sex, they are missing out on learning unique things that heterosexual parents can provide.  In the Family: A Proclamation to the World, it says that children are entitled to have a mother and a father.  I feel like having same sex parents are depriving those children of what they are entitled to have.  Also, the terms 'mother' and 'father' are taken away when there are same sex parents.  Parenting is something special that we are able to do, to bring children into this world and raise them according to the Gospel.