"The mother is the barometer of the family." -from the cjane blogAndie and I read a fun blog called cjanerun. CJane's parents, the Clarks, have been called to serve a mission. Her dad will preside over the St. Louis Missiouri mission.
The apostle, Robert D. Hales, set apart the Clarks and most of their kids and grandkids were able to attend. Elder Hales reminded the group of siblings that their mother is the barometer of the family. If the family is well, their mother will be happy. Conversely, if someone in the family isn't well, it's a tough go for the mother. It's just the nature of mothers!
So, while Brother and Sister Clark spend 3 years away from family, Elder Hales finished his comments by advising: "If you want to help your mother, be good."
As a mother, I heartily agree with Elder Hales wise counsel! Or, I've heard it said this way: "a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child."
When it comes to real barometers (as opposed to mothers), it was my Dad who loved to look at these weather instruments. His Navy years on an aircraft carrier left him with respect and interest in weather and predicting likelihood of rain, etc. He taught me the "Red sky at night, sailors delight, Red sky at morning, sailors take warning" rhyme and was always abreast of the temperature (inside and out) and the upcoming weather forecast.
I don't completely understand how to read a barometer aside from knowing that low pressure indicates increased storm activities. So if a barometer is falling then precipitation is likely while a rising barometer indicates fair weather ahead!
Like the difficulty in reading the barometer, most children probably don't completely understand their mothers either. Suffice it to say that if kids are rising (progressing/thriving) all is well with Mom. But if kids are declining, Moms will be wary of storms ahead!
The satirist, Ambrose Bierce, never called mothers the barometer of the family but he did sarcastically define a barometer as "an ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of weather we are having."
