Families Are Efficient

Elder L. Tom Perry, a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made an insightful statement about families in his last talk given, shortly before he passed away. "No one has ever come up with a more efficient way to raise the next generation than a household of married parents with children." April 2015

My sister and I have talked about how this can be true on a very literal level. She got married about a year ago and has noticed that home-cooked meals for just two people involve a lot of leftovers that can get boring. And as a single college student, it's so much work per person (me) to make a good meal that I do my best eating at restaurants. However, home cooking experiences economies of scale. As you cook for more people, the cost (of time and supplies) per person increases more slowly than the benefits per person, especially with the benefits of warm-hearted giving and receiving among family members.

Another way that families are efficient is that they don't have as much of the principal-agent issue. That issue arises when the principal or owner has one goal, but the agent or employee has another goal. For example, the owner of a restaurant wants to cut costs and get people to come back and refer friends. A waiter may just want a good tip. This could lead to the waiter giving too many free items to customers to cover for mistakes, while blaming other people in the restaurant for problems in the orders. On the other hand, parents usually love their child more than any other mortal, and they are also the ones who make decisions about how to raise their child; there isn't any gap there. Conversely when schools are trusted to raise a child, the school employees are more likely to worry about test scores and miss the principal goal of raising a happy child that becomes a happy adult.

A third way in which families are efficient is through synergy. With a mother and father who complement each other, the accomplishments of the pair exceed the sum of what they could accomplish separately. In my home growing up, I admit that sometimes it was fun when both my parent were out of town for a weekend so that we could order pizza and do whatever we wanted for a bit. But I never liked it when just one parent was gone; their personalities complemented each other's well. I am grateful for a home that created a great balance of play, work, relaxing, learning, silliness, chatting and spirituality.

I don't have 90 years of experience like Elder Perry, but I have also felt that "the family is the center of life and is the key to eternal happiness."

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