Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Blog Post #6

Last week we discussed in class how couples who decide to cohabitate have more of a tendency to abuse each other than those who marry then move in together.  I found this to be very interesting, yet not very surprising.  Through the course of this class, I have learned that people who cohabitate have a higher risk of a lot of situations which are not preferable.  I feel for the children of people to decide to cohabitate.  Broken homes are more common and abuse is rampant.  Nobody wants to be raised in an environment like that.  I am very grateful for the Church's stance on marriage and cohabitation.  Our children deserve more.  They deserve the best, and the best thing that we can provide them with is a family which is strong and united and lawfully wed without abuse or other social/emotional downfalls.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Family Relations post #4

Yesterday in class we talked about dating, which has been a huge issue in my apartment lately.  One of my roommates has been going on "not dates" with a guy that she has been interested in for some time now.  We tried telling her that it was a date, but she didn't believe us.  Now, after having taught her the knowledge that I learned in class, she too knows that these "not dates" have absolutely been real dates.  We have learned that the three criteria for a date are - 1. Prepared (he has planned an activity) 2. Paid for (he is treating you) and 3. Paired off (there is no question as to whether or not he is "yours" for the evening).  My fiance and I learned a lot from this lesson too.  Throughout our relationship, we have not been the best at actually taking the time from our extremely hectic schedules to go on dates, however I also learned in class that these 3 P's of dating have a lot to do with the 3 P's of fatherhood/marriage.  In our Church we believe that the father of the family has the role of Providing for his family (Paid for), Protecting his family (Paired off - he would never let any one else in who could be a threat to the well being of the family) and Presiding over his family (he is Prepared and willing to lead and set a good example for his family).  We both liked this learning experience and are grateful to have had it. We have set the goal to go on more dates alone and not just hang out with friends because, as we also learned in class, "being paired off helps you prepare for marriage".  We are grateful to have had this lesson.

Family Relations Post #3

This past week in class we talked a lot about mate selection and why it is that we scientifically end up choosing the people that we do.  I have contemplated on this a lot this week because I have always wondered why it is that we are drawn to some people, yet not to others.  We learned about a few different criteria that we use in choosing a mate, or significant other.  First we talked about "propinquity" - which basically means that you tend to favor those who live around you, not only because it is convienient, but also because people who live in a close proximity to each other often share similar values and cultural outlooks.  We calso talked about physical characteristics and "familiar" similarities.  We meantioned how those who choose each other often have physical similarities, and I have heard that my fiance and I could be "brother and sister" (which we dont really like, but it proves a point).  I just thought that it was a really cool experience to be able to look at our relationship compared to what we learned in class, because everything that Brother Williams mentioned was true for us.  Our relationship struggled when we tried long distance.  We broke up because of it.  But now that our propinquities are more in line with each other, we are back together.  We also have a lot in common, especially our love for the gospel which makes things a whole lot easier than if our views were different.  I loved this lesson and I'm grateful for Brother Williams for preparing it for us.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Family Relations Post #2

The other day in class we discussed how the family works together as a functional (hopefully) unit and were asked to start brainstorming what our personal families behave like.  I am a Dental Hygiene major and so, of course, I pictured my family working together much like all of the elements of the mouth work together on a daily basis.  I pictured my mom as the maxillary (upper part of the mouth) arch, because usually the mother in the family has a major influence on the father, who I pictured as the mandibular (lower part of the mouth) arch.  Both are just as important, it's just that the lower part of the mouth is more apt to "move" when the upper is not.  The upper is more set in place, and is therefore not as apt to move when "disagreements" or differences in ideas come into the picture.  My mother is a very sweet woman, but she is definitely the backbone of the family.  The upper and lower are joined together by the TMJ joint (the strongest joint in the body)...it is VERY hard to break (much like my parent's relationship).  It may get a little painful sometimes, but it is even stronger with use that it was 28 years ago (much like the muscles of our own TMJ joints).  My parents have been married for many years and are stronger together than ever. They have 4 children who love them, and a nephew who we all love as well.  Each of us also contribute to the anatomy of our family "mouth".  My older sister is 26 and has always been very grounded.  She is the one who keeps us all in line if things ever get crazy, (which they seldom do), and for that reason I picture her as the Frenulum Linguae, or "the attachment under the tongue"...this attachment makes sure that the tongue movements do not get "too wild", and in the case of our family, influences us younger kids to not say things to each other that we would later regret. My little sister would be considered the incisors (the front four teeth) because she is such a go getter, and is quite influential and inspiring to our family.  These are the teeth that are used to "take the first bite", and she definitely does that when it comes to her life.  My brother is 19 and I would consider him to be the occlusal  surface of the teeth (the top surface).  This is the portion of the teeth that grinds the food after the incisors rip it off.  I would consider him to be this, because of his dedication to things which he is not always interested in doing but which are good.  If there is something to be done; work, school, etc. he takes on the "daily grind" no matter what.  And then there is Caden, my little nephew who is almost a year old.  He is the tongue, the center of us all.  We LOVE him more than ANYTHING!  And then there is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the element that keeps us strong.  I would consider that to be calcium - strengthens all of us and allows us to better fulfill our duties as a family.  As much as I love teeth, I love my family and the gospel WAY more, I would be nothing without them and I am very grateful and blessed to be able to strengthen my testimony of both through the teachings of this class.
For my Family Relations class, we were asked to include the other class members' blogs so that viewers who were interested in reading further about our views on the family were able to do so.  The list are as follows...


Enjoy :) 
Family Relations Class - Post #1

This past week in my Family Relations class at Brigham Young University - Idaho, we have learned a lot about family dynamics and how throughout the years, family traditions and trends seem to be on a  very slippery slope.  We learned in class that during our parents' generation, pregnancy was shown in a different light that it is today.  Back then, only 2% of unwed mothers chose abortion, while 50% chose to keep their child and the remaining 48% went with the option of adoption.  Today however, 50% of unwed mothers still choose to keep their child, while 2% choose adoption and 48% choose abortion.  I found these statistics to be highly alarming and terribly sad.  In my opinion, although abortion is an "option" it simply is just not AN OPTION.  There are plenty of families out there who would love children but who cannot have them on their own.  Adoption is a beautiful gift.  Both of my parents were adopted and both could not be more grateful.  Hopefully, society can turn themselves back around and hopefully it happens sooner rather than later.