End of the Semester

So today was my last class period in Family Relations and honestly I can say I learned more in this class than any of my others. This class taught me how to keep my marriage going and to keep it healthy. It taught me that hard times will come but gave me tools as how to overcome them with my spouse. From taking this class I have decided to become a Marriage and Family psychologist because I feel that there is so much that can be fixed in a family and so many things go unnoticed. I will continue to post from time to time on things that I learn in my other family classes so that everyone can know the techniques to saving, keeping, and renewing a marriage.

Divorce

I have always wondered why divorce is so common now. After taking this class and having lessons on it i now understand. One of the reasons that I feel is the main reason is allowing outside factors to come in. We talked about a situation where in an early marriage the mom let in her mother and consulted her on everything and not her husband. From that it drove a force into the marriage and that led to divorce because there was no connection. What people do not understand is that divorce really is not the answer, there are so many little things that you could change to save a marriage. A statistic that Brother Williams gave in class was the after 2 years of being divorced most said that they regretted the divorce and knew that if they had tried hard enough that they could have saved the marriage. After hearing that I really wonder why people don't try to fix it and just decide to split up a family.

Discipline

What is the right way to discipline your child? This is the question that many parents ask and few get the answer they want. Today in class we learned 6 ways to discipline that will help you effectively. First off before you begin to respond to a situations ask yourself: Who owns the problem, Parent or Child? Second, seek to allow children to learn from the natural consequences of problems. Third, exceptions where you cannot allow for natural consequences are if it is too dangerous, the consequence is not till to far in the future, and if someone else is effected. Fourth always want to provide support. Fifth, give discipline but politely. Sixth and final give logical consequence as a response. After learning this I realized that disciple is not easy and takes lots of thought and consideration. Before you discipline your child taking these 6 suggestion into account. 

Council

Councils are one of the greatest ways to keep your marriage happy, but many wonder what the Council should consist of. As we learned yesterday you should open your council by taking time to express love and admiration for one another. This is a huge step because spirit, but it also clears the hard feelings you may have for the other. prayer so that you may invite the spirit in. This is something that I know many people forget because they just want to go right ahead and get done with the meeting. Next you should prayer so that you may invite the spirit in. This also lets you invite God into your meeting so that he can guide you in the right direction. After that you should discuss to consensus regarding the Lords will. You should never just compromise because than you are just having someone give into the other instead of both of you agreeing on that needs to be done. Keeping the Lords will in mind is a huge part of having a successful council, whatever he says is what needs to happen whether you agree with it or not. Lastly you should end with another prayer and express gratitude for you the Lord. Spouses should meet like this one on one before they go and have a meeting with the rest of the family. This is important so that they are on the same page and no one is taken off guard.

Intimacy

This week in class I loved how we talked about when is the right time to talk about intimacy and how we should teach it. For children we should just tell them when the confront us on things because if we don't than the world will effect there views. I also liked how we discussed that telling kids and teenagers that it is wrong and will make you dirty is not the way to go. We should talk about how it is something sacred and should be left for marriage.

Fathers

This week the main theme I noticed was the importance of fathers. When a wife is pregnant the husband needs to be 100% attentive to her or things will fall apart. For appointments the husband should be present supporting and caring for his wife because doing so will show her that she can rely on him and trust him to come to her aid. Actually being there when the baby is born is also a huge thing the husband should be participating in because it is a strong bonding experience. Throughout the babies life there should be cooperation between the mother and husband whether its for changing diapers or getting up with the baby, no one should be doing it alone.

Dating

This week we focused on dating. I know sounds like a simple thing to learn about but I actually learned a lot more about it then I thought I would. First off there are 3 T's Togetherness, Talk and Time. Being together on everything is very important or the date does not work. Talking is a huge part of dating, if you just go to movies on a date there is no talk at all so that is best to use later after dating for awhile. Timing of everything is important! Being a college student using the dating tips I learned this week will help me with boys and understand them!

CLASSMATE BLOGS!!

So I noticed that my classmate list was not working so I have deleted it and I will just paste them here!

•                Alexis Priestly	http://lexandfamily.weebly.com/the-family.html
•                Ally McClain	http://www.allysfamilylife.blogspot.com/
•                Amber Kranc	http://amberkranc.blogspot.com/
•                Annabel Detering	http://thoughtsonhomeandfamily.blogspot.com/
•                Caitlin Schofield	http://caitlinschofield.blogspot.com/
•                Candice Merrill	http://candicermerrill.blogspot.com/
•                Cristel Carlini	http://familiesareforeverandever.blogspot.com/
•                Elisse Cook	http://lovethatlasts4ever.blogspot.com/
•                Emily Hayes	http://thenutty9.blogspot.com/
•                Erica Arguello	http://familiesconnectedtoheaven.blogspot.com/
•                Hailey Patera	http://haileypaterafamily.blogspot.com/
•                Haley Lucas	http://miissblondiiefamilies.blogspot.com/
•                Heather Christensen	http://thefamilyrelationship.blogspot.com/
•                      Janaya L. Johnson	http://the-family-is-ordained-of-god.blogspot.com/
•                Jenney Premont	http://thatsalongtime.blogspot.com/
•                Julie Moss	http://lovemyeternalfamily.blogspot.com/
•                Kayleena Johnston	http://throughtheeternities.blogspot.com/
•                Kaylonnie White	http://tormentorjoy.blogspot.com/
•                Kelsey Lawrence	http://familysmatteralot.blogspot.com/
•                Kelsey Murphy	http://kelseyleighannmurphy.blogspot.com/
•                Kody Daffer	http://kodydaffer.blogspot.com/
•                Krystal Palmer	http://alove4eternity.blogspot.com/
•                Laura Hudgins	http://centeredonfamily.weebly.com/index.html
•                Madeline Vance	http://madelinemarievance.blogspot.com/
•                McKayla Nicole Hess	http://smilingfamilies.blogspot.com/
•                Michael Watts	http://someviewsonlife.blogspot.com/
•                Olivia Welch	http://thestrongestalliance.blogspot.com/
•                Patrick Williams	http://patrickallenwilliams.blogspot.com/
•                Rachel Blaylock	http://4everfamiles.blogspot.com/
•                Rachel Escobar	http://raebar92.blogspot.com/
•                Sammi Scott	http://sammischaweet.blogspot.com/
•                Tamara Handa	http://familiiesareforever.blogspot.com/
•                Tina Trepanier	http://tinatrepanier.blogspot.com/
•                Tod Flory	http://familyrelationsbytod.blogspot.com/

Gender Roles and Same Sex Attraction

This week we talked about the importance of gender roles. Now at first I was skeptical about it because I do not think that their should be certain roles because everyone should be equal and do what they want but after this week I truly understood the importance of them. Following our decisions on gender roles we talked about same sex attractive. We talked about how people are not born with it and that it is a choice. We also talked about the reasons behind why people pick this path. I personally have many friends who are Gay and Lesbian and I do not have any problem with them but understand the data collected on why some choose that I feel sorry for them. What are your thoughts on both gender roles and same sex attraction?

Effects on The Family

Lately in class we have been talking about class and culture and how it has and effect on family. Growing up in a pretty well off home I never even considered that the class you are in can determine the happiness of your family. I watched this video about a woman named Tammy who was in the lower class and was struggling with her family. One of her sons was ashamed of what his mother was and how his family was. He would not talk to his siblings at school unless they were up to his standards. He belittled his mother because of the way that she has raised the family and how she was not like the other mothers. Well Tammy did not have a car to get to work so she walked 10 miles there and back just to get money to provide for her family. I am amazed at how money and the class that you are in can have an effect on how you are treated by other and even your own family. There are also videos and stories of people who seek the highest class so they marry richer just to obtain it. I personally think that family should be centered around love and trust rather than class or money. When it comes to culture it really is true that it how an effect on how your family functions. Depending on where you grow up your morals on thins could be completely different from others. I just thought that all of this was very interesting so I decided to share(:

Trust

I have recently experienced what happens when trust is broken in a relationship. A couple months back I did something that hurt someone I loved. Although I was not thinking about them when I did it it still effected them. We worked on our relationship and were getting better but still the trust was not fully there. So today I advice you to never hide something from someone no matter how small or insignificant it is to you, it may just be the biggest thing to someone else. Be honest in everything you do and work through the hard times. Nothing is perfect but with some effort you can make progress. This experience with my friend made me think of what it would be like to have trust broken in a marriage. Now I personally think that divorce should be the very last option no matter what had happen unless there is physical abuse involved. You should always work through something instead of just giving up. When you are married you can not just "go on a break" when you get frustrated or angry with your spouse, you need to talk and understand their side and do everything you can to work it out. I have seen a lot of good marriages ended over dumb fights because someone in the relationship was not wiling to take the time and look past their side. Look past your pride and humble your self when you are in a fight or even in the wrong on something. Not everyone will understand your reason for doing something but you should at least understand their reason for being upset so that you can work through the misunderstanding. Especially with marriage, divorce should never be the back up plan to a fight or to misunderstanding, it should be a last resort. No matter how wrong the other person may be look past your self for one moment and ask yourself,  is this worth giving up everything we have worked for and built? I would like to hear feed back on this and see what you all think(: Thanks for reading!

What Matters Most

I watched this video in my spare time today and I thought I would share it!

Purpose of the Blog

I wanted to start this blog off by telling you a little bit about me. I am currently a second semester freshman at BYU Idaho with no idea what I want to. I love soccer more than any sport but football is a close second! When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher because I thought being surrounded by children was what I wanted to do but that soon changed into wanting to be a lawyer, psychologist, and now FBI Agent. This blog was started because of an assignment for a Family Relations class but I am determined to make it more than just a assignment but rather a way to gather opinions and insight on the family, The things I say you may not agree with but they are what I feel or what I am thinking. Hopefully one of these days what I write is what you were looking for or needed to hear.