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Week 12: Final Thoughts

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    The semester is coming to a close, and as many other students, I am stressed about finals and everything that the end of a semester brings. It has also caused me to reflect on the things I have learned and ways I have grown, if at all! When I look back, I know with out a doubt that this course has impacted me. For our final in Family Relations, we were required to make a list of our top ten favorite things we learned this semester. It was a lot easier than I thought, recalling all the many topics we discussed. What was challenging, was picking only ten! Our instructor informed us, that this was only half of the final, and we would complete the other half during class. We were all nervous and stressed, concerned about what to expect. We were surprised and delighted at what that other half entailed. We were asked to pick three of the ten things that we found to be most influential. Then, we were asked to make lesson plans for two of those three topics. After making lesson pl...
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Week 11: Parenting

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     I loved this weeks discussions and material! As I mentioned earlier in the semester, my husband and I are new parents to a sweet baby girl. She is now 5 months, and we can hardly believe it. Often, my husband and I discuss what we enjoy as parents, what our goals are and discuss how we would react in certain situations.      It was fun taking a parenting style quiz to see what my ideals and overall approach to parenting looks like. I asked my husband to take it as well. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences in our scores. This specific quiz that we took is located here  and I would recommend it to anyone interested in starting a family and anyone that has one... so everyone! Dr. Michael H. Popkin is the author of Active Parenting , and it is his quiz that helps others to discover their parenting styles.      To give you a little insight into my experience with this, I will share my scores and David's scores and ...
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Week 10: Father's & Parenthood

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This week was a little controversial for some and definitely for the world we live in today. However, I believe strongly that men and women have different unique talents and attributes. These differences actually work to our benefit! They help us to learn and to grow as individuals and to create the ideal environment to raise children. I remember growing up hearing that if we were all the same we wouldn't be here. I absolutely believe that there is a perfect God who created us, and we have God given roles and abilities. In class I heard Brother Williams say, "we don't need father's to be mother's. We need father's to fulfill their role as father's." I think we should embrace our differences and use them to add to the family dynamic in meaningful and individual ways. Father's play a crucial role in the development of children for specific reasons as do mothers, for other reasons. We need both of those roles to be fulfilled.     We also discussed the...
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Week 9: Communication & Problem Solving

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     Have you ever struggled when it's time to make a big decision? Especially when that decision impacts more than just yourself? I'm not talking about what to make for dinner, although to some that may seem like an outstanding obstacle. In fact, I am talking about decision making that includes others. What is it that makes it so difficult? I think more often than not, we can chalk it up to communication, or lack there of. This week we learned about forms of communication, the advantages and challenges that come with each one, as well as ways to effectively communicate. Brother Williams shared with us, "5 Secrets of Effective Communication" that I am excited to share on this post, along with other insights and guidance!     I don't know about you, but from my personal experience, those who have struggles in their relationships, whatever they may be. usually all relate it back to poor communication or no communication at all. Why is that? Well, from what I have ...
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Week 8: Stress Stress Stress!

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    Every family experiences stress, it is inevitable! But have you ever experienced a family CRISIS? What is the difference you might ask? Or perhaps it is actually obvious to you. This week we did some exploring into identifying what the stresses of normal family life are while analyzing our own families and the stresses we encounter there. We also made sure to recognize the processes in which we responded to these stressors. These processes can turn a stressful event into a crisis or simply a challenge, which leads me back to what I was saying before. If we don't find methods to cope with stress, it inadvertently becomes a crisis in our lives and especially in our homes. Every family has experienced or will experience a crisis or two (or three or four), this is normal and common. However, my goal today is to share methods in which we can cope with the stressors in our lives and homes.       People react in different ways, and we can expect that. We ...
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Week 7: Sexual Intimacy & Family Life

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    This week in class we had quite the discussion! The learning objective this week was to "i ncrease understanding of sexuality, its influence upon the family structure, and proper responses to the challenges and opportunities it provides."      I thought it was interesting to learn about fundamental differences in men and women with their arousal and response cycles; and although that was a large component of what we discussed, I was most interested in how men and women view sexuality and the kind of impact their differences can have on a marriage and family.     More often than not, men use intercourse and sexual conduct to feel close to their spouse. Women however, first need to feel close than engage in sexual activity, even intercourse. These general differences can cause rifts in relationships if not properly understood. We were able to break out into groups to discuss what other differences we see and how that can effect the relationship. Som...
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Week 3: Cultural Diversity in the Home

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    Have you ever wondered why we are all so different? Have you stopped to consider that each of our homes is effected by the society it is surrounded by? And that each home has it's own culture and traditions? Well in the introduction to class this week I was taught that "each of our family experiences is influenced in some way by the social groups to which we belong. Some of these social groups involved social class or privilege. Others involve the unique cultures to which we belong. Each influences the family in various ways, most often unseen."     " As you consider aspects of culture, bear in mind that culture is not created, defined or maintained by skin color, language or geography. Each family has its own culture which is influenced by several factors."     In this blog entry I am going to take into c onsideration how my own family culture is influenced by my religious values and practices. I am married with a baby, however for the sake of thi...
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