Divorce & Remarriage (Apr 1-5)

Divorce and remarriage can be extremely hard for a family.  A lot of the time children are forced to pick sides with a parent.  They have to constantly deal with one parent saying bad things about the other.  What really saddens me is how little parents think about their kids when it comes to divorce.    Instead of trying to work it out people tend to feel that the easiest thing to do is to just bail.  Our Professor showed us a study involving divorce which showed that 70% of the respondents, who participated in the study, two years after their divorce, suggested that they not only could have saved the marriage but should have.  A statistic like this really saddens me.  What has happened to our society where people would rather just throw away a marriage than do what is right and work on it?  

Parenting (Mar 25-29)

Being a parent is hard.  Then why ever do it? From what I saw at my high school most people were horrified of the idea of having children.  Girls that I knew laughed at the idea of being a “stay home mom”.  I think too many people feel that when you have children it is just a miserable experience.  What a lot of people don’t understand is that parenting isn't something that just benefits the kids.  There is a lot for the parents to gain from parenting as well.  There was a person in our class who gave a good example to support this.   Her father was the kind of man who didn't have a lot of patience.  Over time once he had children he learned how to have patience.  Having children forced this father to learn how to have patience.  Parents are growing and learning things just like their children are.  Now, there are a lot of different ways to discipline and work with your children.  I feel the most important thing is to stay calm and to make sure that your kids know that you love them.  

Fathers and Finances (Mar 18-22)

What caught my attention the most this week was when we covered Dennis Prager’s article “Does a Full-Time Homemaker Swap Her Mind for a Mop?” I feel this concept is ridiculous.  In this day and age I would go as far to say those women who are homemakers tend to be more informed then their husbands.  I don’t see how men who are spending a majority of their time at work could keep up with a woman who is constantly watching the news or listening to news radios.  There is a lot more that could be said on this topic but I’d rather not ramble on.  This week we also went over methods for a family to be successful with their finances.  I’ll cover the two things that stood out to me the most.  I feel that the number one thing when it comes to finances is paying a full and honest tithe.  The Lord blesses us when we do this and those blessings come in handy on rainy days.  The other concept we went over is teaching ourselves self-restraint.  If we can control our urges for worldly things we’ll ultimately spend less money.

Communication & Mutual Problem Solving (Mar 11-15)

What stood out the most for me is what we went over on Friday.  We went over the sacred process for seeking and responding to challenges and opportunities via the counsel method.  Now, before this lesson I had never heard of the counsel method so this was fascinating to me.  With this method, everyone apart of the meeting or counsel shares how they feel about a certain issue.  The group continues to go around in a circle until everyone agrees with a certain solution or idea.  I really loved this idea and look forward to trying this out with my family when I get older.  I think children would appreciate this and it would help the family grow closer together.  The kids would feel more respected and be shown that their opinions really do matter to their parents.

The Family Under Stress (Mar 4-8)

Families get hit with crises.  That is just part of life.  Some get hit with it more than others.  A crisis is a time of danger as well as a time for opportunity.  What some people may not realize is that when a family successfully overcomes a crisis together they can be a lot stronger for it.  A crisis can be a time for a family to work together, bond, and love each other.  Crises can teach family members what is important in life and they get to see life from other perspectives.  It’s a funny thought in my opinion that the thing that can bind families most together is also the thing that can rip them most apart.  I know from personal experience that the main crisis my family went through really brought all my brothers and sisters together.  We are an incredibly close family and in a way I am thankful for the hard times I've been through because I’m not sure we’d be where we all are today without it.

Sexual Intimacy and Family Life (Feb 25 – Mar 1)

This was a pretty funny week.  We got to see our professor blush a lot during the lectures which helps us students feel less awkward about concepts.  There is a lot of confusion that can occur from a married couple’s sexual relationship.   We went over an interesting concept that talked about how woman don’t want to have sex until they feel close, but men tend to feel close after sex.  It is easy to see how a cycle like this can cause problems in a relationship.  During this week, we also went over situations in which an affair occurs or where a spouse really messes up in the relationship.  The main thing that stuck out to me was a scripture.  This scripture was Alma 42:29 and it reads, “And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.”  What this scripture means is that we should only remember a sin if it will help us from repeating or committing a sin.  We should not dwell on our sins and let it control our lives.  I think a lot of relationships need to keep this in mind.  If our Father in Heaven has forgiven someone for a sin than who are we to not forgive them as well.

Transitions in Marriage (Feb 18-22)

Too many people expect their marriage to be perfect and they expect it to be perfect right at the start.  That first year a couple is together can be the hardest one for their marriage.  Most divorces occur within the first couple years of marriage and are around the time the first or second child is being born.  Marriage is a lot of hard work.  It is too bad how many marriages end up not making it just because the couple was not willing to work it out.  It can be very helpful to discuss a lot of things that may cause arguments before the marriage.  This can help tone down the stress as well as already provide the couple with a plan when the inevitable trouble hits.

Preparing for Marriage (Feb 11-15)

There was a lot from this lesson that I liked and found interesting.  One concept that really caught my attention was the differences between two people “hanging out” or actually going on a date.  It seems that society today is moving towards no longer doing dates and more along the lines of hanging out.  Well what is the difference?  In class we identified something as a date if it is planned, paid for, and paired off.  Dating is an important thing to do before marriage because it helps you find out who you are, what qualities you like in others, and gives you practice in skills you’ll need once you’re married.  Hanging out robs both people of the benefits that come from having dates.  As we are on the roller coaster that is “falling in love” and search for our life partners, it is important to date lots of people.  We should be more careful before deciding to exclusively date a single person.  The hurt that come from a breakup is real and can hurt the individuals for the long run.

Gender and Family Life (Feb 4-8)

This week showed me a lot.  What I loved about this lesson was the support for how men and women beautifully work together.  What stuck with me was a question asked at the beginning of the week.   The question was, “Why would God ordain gender differences?”  When I think about this I think about the marriages I have seen.  More often than not, a man’s wife helps make up for what he is not so great at and the man helps his wife with what she is not so great at.  Together the two of them can create a team with so much potential.  So to answer the question, I believe that God ordained gender differences because only when man and woman come together are they able to be most like their Father in Heaven.  Only as a team can they bring life into this world, raise a family, and so much more.

Social Class & Cultural Diversity (Jan 28-Feb 1)

In this lesson we learned a lot about social classes and cultural diversity here in the US.  What stood out the most to me was when we went over Mexican family system changes after immigration.  First off, I don’t blame any Mexican families trying to immigrate to the US.  Chances are I would be doing the same thing as them.  The motives and stories behind Mexican families that immigrate here are very understandable and even inspiring.  What saddens me the most is what tends to happen to some of these families after they all manage to get here.    Sometimes children rebel against their parents because they didn't want to move in the first place.  There can be power struggles with the children.  Children may be saddened by the loss of family and friends.  Traveling here illegally can be very hard and stressful.  It can force children to grow up faster than parents would have wanted.  Parents can be overworked from trying to support their family in their new home and they become unable to spend as much time with their children as they would like.  The list of course continues.  This lesson really helped me understand where some Mexican families are coming from and the struggle they go through.

Family Rules (Jan 21-25)

The main topic I'd say we covered this week had to do with the unspoken family rules that we allow to govern our lives.  I say unspoken because these rules generally aren't talked about in the family but are understood as rules to be followed.  These rules can vary from all sorts of different things.  Some of these rules could be to never bring up a specific subject, always to leave a door unlocked, or maybe even to never enter your home without saying hello.  What ever the rules are all families have them.  They are interesting to be aware of and to think about.

Trends (Jan 14-18)

I know this post is a bit late, but better late than never.  The main concept we covered last week in class involved the different trends or norms that our society has fallen into.  Some of these trends were how normal premarital sex has become, the increased births to unmarried women, the increased number of people living alone, more people satisfying their "needs" through cohabitation, delayed marriages, smaller household sizes, more mothers being employed compared to the past, the divorce rate going up, and many more.  I believe these are all issues.  Yes, some are more serious than others, but as a whole they really show where our society is going.  People may feel that a lot of these issues aren't issues at all.  Trends like these have serious side effects attached to them.  An example that would help these ideas make more sense is the whole idea of being green.  If everyone thinks that they're just one person and they can't make a difference then our planet truly becomes in danger. If everyone believes that not having kids, not getting married, and living alone is no big deal and won't make a difference, then our planet's population will decrease.  These trends need to be taken seriously and not be pushed aside.

I'm looking forward to this class.