Marriage

This week we learned all about marriage. We learned about the difference between getting married and having a wedding. Did you guys know that the average wedding is $27,000? This seems a little bit ridiculous.      Another important thing that we learned is the trials that come throughout marriage. This is so important to remember. I feel like people, especially those at BYU or BYU-Idaho, are unprepared for marriage. They feel that marriage is going to take away their problems or be pure perfection. However, there are so many trials that come as a married couple, especially money difficulties. It is important to remember that your marriage may not be perfect, but it does not mean that things cannot be fixed.

LOVE

Okay so this week, we talked about love. Very fitting for Valentine's week. We talked about the importance of choosing a life partner and the misattribution of arousal. Many times we mistake physical intimacy or attraction for love. Since a marriage cannot be based on this, this is a very bad thing. We also learned some very interesting information about cohabitation. Those who cohabitate and then marry are more likely to divorce. This mat seem strange because many people go into cohabitation with the idea that they are basically "practicing marriage". However, it is not the best way to do this.

We also learned that many may feel they are in love because they feel so comfortable talking to each other and that they can talk for hours. Brother Williams shared that this may be because one person shares so much and they feel like they know each other very well in reality they don't. Strange! Anyway, this was a very interesting and insightful week!

The Issue of Same-Sex Attraction

I was dreading this week. I am taking Family Foundations and Family Relations and they both chose to talk about same-sex attraction and gender identity in the same week. This always been a pressing issue for me. My views have definitely changed throughout the course of my 20-year old life. I was very impressed by the way these topics were presented.

I feel like this issue is so big everywhere and so misunderstood. I am no expert on it, don't get me wrong. However, this week I found some incredibly good insight that I am going to share. First of all, we found that those who had a same sex attraction often found that at a pivotal or traumatic part in their life. It was really unfortunate and upsetting for me to hear that. Many found that as a child, they were bullied. Others found that they didn't feel connected to their father. The research that we were given explains that this same sex attraction usually comes from the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate.

Now, when I say this, I am not saying that they are raised to be gay. I am just saying that the research showed the environmental factors played the biggest role in this. Others may feel otherwise. My personal opinion is that people may be born with certain traits or tendencies, but it does not make them gay. It is also very important how they use these tendencies and what they do with them.

It is so important to remember that people who struggle with same sex attraction are not "broken". They are not "weird". They are our brothers and sisters. We need to love them and treat them just as we would anyone else. They are no different. As Ghandi said, "hate the sin. not the sinner".

I know that this is a touchy subject and I really hope not to have offended anyone. Have an amazing weekend!

Diversity

This week in my class we learned about different types of cultures. We each have different backgrounds and that doesn't mean that any of them are right or wrong. It all depends on what we do with the backgrounds that we have. No matter where you live, it is important to raise your children to the Lord and in His gospel.

It was definitely interesting to delve more into the different cultures that I have never really studied and to see their affect on family and social relationships. Often times, we categorize people based on their social class or   what we see them as. However, some of these categories may not be true and all of them should never have been placed to begin with. The culture that we grow up in has an affect on how we live, how we speak, and what we wear. In the end, we are all children of our Heavenly Father and it therefore doesn't matter.

Dynamic Family

Hello again friends!

This week I learned all about the different types of boundaries that a family can put up. I was able to evaluate my own family and create my own Family Map. I also had the experience of reading this interesting piece about genograms. It involved Henry Fonda's genogram. I had no idea who he was, but after a Google excursion, I was able to learn a little bit about him and his life. According to the article, and what I learned from Wikipedia, he was close to a lot of people who committed suicide. The genograms were a little tough to follow, but so interesting! I am so excited to learn more about them!

Another thing that I learned was that when it comes to a family, the whole is better than an individual. I guess that was kind of something I already knew, considering you can't have a family without individual parts. Everyone plays an important part in the family. I am excited to do my own project and see what patterns I can find in my family!

Have a great weekend!

First Real Post!

Hi! This week was the second week of school. In my Family Relations class, we learned about the different trends that are shown throughout topics of marriage and family. Unfortunately, many of the trends seem to be for the worse. The divorce rates are getting higher along with the amount of people living alone. The rate of cohabitation is also increasing along with the rate of premarital sex. Many of these trends seem to correlate with each other.

We were also given the chance to do our own research. We chose our own topics and we chose the websites that we wished to use. I chose to research the effects that a same-sex marriage has on the children involved. Unfortunately, all I received was lots of biased information and skewed results.

At the beginning of this week, we read our text book, Marriage and Family by Robert and Jeanette Lauer. It debunked certain myths on the topics of marriage and family life, such as the myth that marriage is all about love. One important tip that I learned this week is that the more alike you are with your spouse, the better chances there are of having a lasting and satisfying relationship. Perfect!

I will leave you all with this and I hope you have an amazing weekend!

"A happy marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one’s companion."
-Gordon B. Hinckley 

Marriage and Family

Hello! I am creating this blog to give all the amazing insight that I recieve from my Marriage and Family class here at Brigham Young Univeristy - Idaho. Each week I will be posting about the topics that we have discussed in this class. Enjoy!