A couple of recent articles have Mormons thinking about best practices in teaching our children church history and doctrine, and in particular whether we should deliberately acquaint them with the most challenging issues in Mormon experience—issues like historical polygamy, for instance, that are largely absent from official church discourse. Like other observers, I would welcome a more open approach from the Church itself, and that may be coming. But in my experience there's a lot more to a successful inoculation than the institutional pedagogy children encounter at church. Everyday family life fosters or hinders a child's spiritual growth than any Sunday manual ever could.
