Family Relations Blog

  This week I learned a lot of information about parenting. The purpose of parenting  is to protect and to provide, and prepare children to live in the world. This week I learned that every child and teen has needs, and when these needs aren’t being met this is when kids start to act out. Then I learned ways parents can help get those needs met for their child. I really liked this parenting format: child's needs not being met → to child’s misguided behavior → parents' response. The first need that every child/ teen has is contact / belonging. This week I learned that when kids are not coddled and loved the child actually doesn’t develop right. This brings me so much comfort because growing up my sister in law would tell my mom that their child was being too loved and coddled. I became so worried because I loved cuddling my nephews and I was worried I was loving them “too much”. But there is no such thing as loving them too much. Kids need to have that love. So because kids are...

  This week I learned about the importance of managing money. A really great talk I read that I will talk about and mention is called One for the Money by Elder Marvin J. Ashton. Elder Ashton gives many recommendations to improve personal and daily financial management.  In Elder Ashton's talk he says that 89% of all divorces could be traced to quarrels and accusations over money. I think that many people have many expectations when it comes to money, whether it’s how much money they would like to have, or how they want to spend it. I think the best thing you can do when you are dating or engaged is to make sure to get on the same page as your partner. Get on the same page about your expectations with money and how you are going to manage money. These questions are so important because obviously many people have ended relationships because of money problems. Elder Ashton says that peace, contentment, love, and security in the home are not possible when financial anxieties and...

 This week I learned a lot of information about communicating. I have always valued communication, and I have loved learning more about communication this week.  One thing I have found interesting this week is talking about how there are different ways of communicating rather than just words. 14% of communication comes from our words, 35% comes from our tone, and 51% comes from body language. When you are talking to someone, you are not just listening and encoding their words, you are also encoding their tone which they are speaking to you in and you are also encoding their body language. I found it interesting how little percent words make up and how much body language makes up, but it also makes a lot of sense to me. If my fiancé for example was telling me how much he loves me, but he said in an angry tone and was facing away from me, I don’t know if I would believe him. Our society has changed so much, where a lot of our communication comes solely from words. Most kids only...

  This week I learned a lot of things about stressful situations and how stress and anxiety can influence family structures. Most people in life like to take the easy way and get through life with as little stress as possible. But this easy life doesn’t actually bring the intended result, it doesn't bring happiness. In life you can’t appreciate what you have without experiencing the good and the bad. When we are taking the hard way we are learning and when we are learning we are growing. And when you have a relationship without hardships and stress then the relationship will have no growth. I have seen a relationship like this in a show I watch called New Girl. In the show there is a character who is extremely lazy and doesn't like to do anything. This character finds a girl who is exactly like himself and they start dating. But in their relationship all they do is sleep and watch tv, their relationship ends up ending fast because they didn’t experience any stress or hardship s...

  This week I have been learning a lot about sexual intimacy , and learning about the health and unhealthy ways of marital sexual intimacy. This week I was able to read an article called Characteristics of Healthy and Unhealthy Sexuality in Marriage. In this article Laura Brotherson talks about characteristics of healthy and unhealthy sexuality.  Some characteristics to healthy sexuality are accepting, embracing and comfortable with one's body parts. In order to share your body with someone else, you have to love yourself first. The unhealthy characteristic that goes with the first one is being ashamed, uncomfortable, and critical of your body or the other person's body. Many women and men feel pressured to change features about themselves because of their partner. That is not how God created us. He created us to love our bodies and to share them with each other. Another healthy characteristic talked about is affection for it’s own sake instead of affection as a precursor for...

  This week I have been learning about integrating your life when you get married. It’s amazing because I am about to get married myself on April 30th so it’s so good for me to learn all of this now so that way when we get married we both have tools to help us.  This week I learned that people tend to plan for weddings but in the process, they don’t plan their marriage. I have loved planning all the things for my fiancé and I’s wedding, but we both haven’t lost sight that the wedding is one day but our marriage is forever. We continually still talk about what our goals are and even talk about raising kids together. The more you know about your partner and the more you can see them in different environments, the better it will be for your marriage. If you see bad habits or tendencies it’s good to discuss them now rather than thinking your partner won’t be like that or will change when you get married. Women tend to go into marriages thinking that things will change. When things...