Family Relations Blog

  My fiancé and I are getting married soon and now it is our duty to try and create a new family culture. The questions and concerns we both have are how are we going to raise our kids? What kind of family structure do we want? What family rules are we going to have? And there are many more, it seems like the list of questions never ends. I think what gives me hope is that my fiancé and I don’t have to decide right now. Sometimes it’s better to learn as you go. Because you can prepare all you want for kids, but until you have the child you won’t know how to parent them. But, these questions are good to ask yourself to be thinking about how you want your family to look. The best thing is finding the best aspects from each family culture.  Both my fiancé and I’s family culture looks very different. My family looks more like the “picket fence” family. I grew up with my parents filling traditional roles. My dad was mostly the sole provider for our family. My mom stayed home and ...

     This week in my family relations class we had a great discussion on family theories. Some of these theories include exchange theory, symbolic interaction theory, and conflict theory.      Exchange theory is like a scale: if one person in a relationship is giving and giving, but is not receiving anything in return then the scale becomes unbalanced. If the scale becomes unbalanced then the person that is giving so much stops and ends the relationship. This reminds me of an example of my sister. My sister was dating this guy and my sister liked him a lot; so she was putting a lot of effort into the relationship, but her boyfriend wasn’t really giving anything in return. After a while, my sister became tired of giving so much and felt like she was being used so she broke up with him. In order to have a healthy relationship the scale should be balanced. When the scale is balanced then both parties feel loved and appreciated.       The se...

Each family is unique. Some families have 1 child, while others have 8 kids. How do people decide how many kids to have? I always thought that it was just a married couple's preference, but after discussing this in my family relations class, my thoughts have changed. First I would like to discuss the concerns that many people have with having kids. Some of those concerns are time, energy, money and the fear of bringing kids into this cruel world. I have two nephews and I can definitely say that I have experienced either from my own experience or from my brothers and sister in laws experiences that these concerns are real and legitimate. When I spend time with my nephews, I always become so exhausted. Kids are so fun to play with, but it can take a lot of time and energy out of you. Then by the time you are done playing with your kids, you don’t have the energy or time to accomplish other chores or even have time for yourself.  Another concern that many people have is money. Many pe...

Hey everyone! My name is Brandi Worthington and this is my first time blogging! I am super excited to start sharing insights from my Family Relations class!