In 2004, Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Council of the Twelve gave a powerful talk in a CES broadcast in which he spoke to this particular subject:
We share a consuming concern. Night and day we ask ourselves: What can I do better to strengthen the faith of young people? . . .
Our concern is deepened by what we know it will take to be a missionary and a parent in the days ahead. It will take deep conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will take the companionship of the Holy Ghost. . . . One of the dangers of the times we are passing into is that we might be tempted to lower our expectations for ourselves and for those young people we serve. As the world darkens, even a partial conversion and a few spiritual experiences may seem more and more remarkable, compared to the world. We might be tempted to expect less. . . .
. . . [But] if you expect little, they will feel your lack of faith in them and in the Lord’s promised outpouring of the Spirit. If you communicate, by word or action or even by your tone of voice, that you doubt their spiritual capacity, they will doubt it. If you see in them the potential Joel describes, they will at least have the chance to see it in themselves. Your choices of what you expect will have powerful effect on their choices of what to expect of themselves. [“Raising Expectations,” CES Satellite Training Broadcast, Aug. 4, 2004, 1–2]
via “Let No Man Despise Thy Youth” by president Dhalquist – Young Men Open House, Spring 2006