An engineer returned home on vacation to visit his mother. A husband and father, he was a responsible adult who provided well for his family, seeing them through all sorts of daily challenges and triumphs. Acclaimed in his profession, he earned many awards. Colleagues sought his counsel. He was as skilled around his home as he was expert in his career: if anything broke, he could fix it; if anything had a motor, he knew how to keep it in smooth working order; if it had parts that moved, he knew how to keep them functioning.

During his visit to his boyhood home, his mother continued to give him advice. For example, when he turned on the kitchen tap to get a glass of water, his mother said, "If you let the water run a little while, it will be colder."

A woman who had traveled widely as a photographer — with her camera's lens capturing images of royalties, presidents, other political and religious leaders as well as average citizens throughout North America and more than 50 nations — attended a family reunion. One of her cousins asked her to take a photo of his family. As the professionally ranked photographer prepared to shoot the picture, her mother pointed to a spot a few feet away and advised, "It would be better if you had them stand over there instead of where you have them now."

Many grown-up children receive advice on things they already know. For example, they're cautioned about the proper placement of ladders as they prepare to clear out rain gutters, told to be careful of electrical wires when pruning the apple tree, warned to watch out for snakes when they venture into swampy areas for a day of fishing; and, always, to be careful when driving home.

No matter the age, life experience or expertise of adult sons or daughters, many of their parents seem to have an innate need to advise them. At times, the advice becomes bothersome. An adult daughter, being given advice about cooking, cleaning or organizing things, might mumble, "Doesn't she think I have a lick of sense?"

Wise sons and daughters will realize that life is not static, that time is fleeting. If the normal pattern of life continues in their families, there will come a day when their parents' voices are silenced. Hard though it might seem now, they will yearn to hear one more bit of advice from a mother or father.

Death is what usually silences a parent's voice. But there are other means through which voices are quieted. In one case, it was a debilitating stroke at the age of 63 that left a father unable to speak. A quiet man under normal circumstances, his communications were reduced to a nod or a shake of the head to "yes" or "no" questions. From time to time, when his daughter entered his room, he became extremely animated. Able to move only his left arm and hand, he would reach out toward her, trying desperately to tell her something. Frequently during the next eight years, the daughter went down a list of topics, trying to hit on the subject of her father's concern. Eventually, he would give a weary wave of his hand in dismissal. He died without being able to communicate what was on his mind.

His daughter has grieved over that missed bit of communication. "What did he want to tell me?" she wonders. "Did he have some words of caution, counsel or encouragement that he wanted to give me? What I would have given to have just five minutes with him with his speech restored."

Some advice from parents to children might fall under the category of "mundane." But other counsel is inspired or comes through "the wisdom and experience of age," as President Ezra Taft Benson described it in an October 1989 general conference address. And almost all advice from parent to child, no matter the age, springs from love and concern.

Before he became a member of the First Presidency, Elder James E. Faust, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, described being a parent as "the greatest challenge in the world." He further noted: "Being a father or a mother is not only a great challenge, it is a divine calling. . . .

"In my opinion, the teaching, rearing, and training of children requires more intelligence, intuitive understanding, humility, strength, wisdom, spirituality, perseverance, and hard work than any other challenge we might have in life" (October 1990 general conference; November 1990 Ensign, p. 32).

Is it any wonder that, having devoted much of their lives to helping their children, many parents might desire to continue to advise them? Whether receiving advice that is mundane or inspired, may adult children foster characteristics they might strive to teach their own offspring: patience, understanding, caring, respect and love.