Let's Talk Family

Week Eleven: Parenting This week we met as a class online for our lessons and discussions, it was different, but I still felt engaged and got so much out of it! I really liked the topics we discussed too even though I have never parented someone before I felt like there was some useful substance that I can pull from so one day when I am a father, I can do a good job raising them. I even learned a little more about myself and my own upbringing. I think the lessons shed some light on the way I am the way I am, and why my parents did what they did. I think I found some good examples in their parenting, and I also found some poor spots that may have caused harm. But that’s the great part about learning from other people’s efforts! You can take the best that they had and add upon it to make your own amazing way of going about life.  To kick this blog off I want talk about an amazing finding that was introduced to me. A man named Michael Popkin came up with his own definition ...

Week Ten: Fathers and Finance       You know, it’s an interesting experience when you go through situations and learn of their importance many years down the road. I learned things this week that really did surprise me and consider how I came out to be the adult that I am today. The principles that I learned are simple and vital to the health of families, but I feel like they are often the most ignored and disregarded family principles to date. Almost all forms of modern society really do trash on the traditional family structure and its roles, it’s almost impossible to argue otherwise, but sometimes those simple traditional ways are the best. This week I learned a lot about the role of the father in the home and his role to his wife and children. I learned a lot about some statistics surrounding the father and his position in today’s world. In a lot of ways, it is dismal, and people really don’t appreciate or understand the father role, but that is a sound reason fo...

Week Eight: Family Under Stress, Crisis   This week I plan on writing this blog a little differently than I normally do. Instead of writing about what I learned and the concepts that were presented to me in class, I want to share some personal experiences that were in line with the things that we learned. This week we talked about stuff that was close to my heart and life, probably because unlike being married and dating regularly I’m used to dealing with family issues and crises and have learned to navigate them, with more finesse and strength than I used to.       I want to first point out that stress and some issues that arise in the family are usually a good thing and invite families to stretch and grow beyond their current circumstances. Without hard times families would never grow closer and overcome obstacles. But sometimes stressors can be so great that families can often strain and break under the pressure. These are events like death, divorce, une...

Week Seven: Sexual Intimacy and Family Life       This week’s material was great and precious, but it didn’t pass my mind without flushing my face every once and a while; the topics are a little sensitive. In short, this week we talked all about the physical realm of intimacy within marriage, and the joys and stressors that could be involved there with. I hope that I can convey these topics that I found interesting in the most sensitive and pure way, as to not soil their amazing nature. I also wish to discuss a little on infidelity and remaining ‘true’ to our spouses.         To start off, I want to make a connection from a couple weeks ago regarding gender differences. We all have come to a common consensus that women and men are innately different and through their differences make a more perfect union. Well the same is true in the sexuality of both genders, they are both different! Both genders appreciate and love having close rel...

Week Six: Transitions in Marriage       This week we learned about the transition into marriage and what we could expect when being newlyweds or approaching marriage. I can for sure tell you that I was out of my element and could not relate to a lot of the things being presented ( because I’m not married yet ) but I was engrossed and learned a lot of valuable things that can happen along with transitioning into a new marriage and you can bet that I’ll be paying very close attention to accomplishing these things as I prepare for my own marriage.        So, my teacher taught us in the beginning of our class that marriage is often like shooting off a cannon at the beginning, It’s an interesting analogy and in my mind it’s accurate. A lot of noise and drama, with often some smoke clearing after the ceremonies and formalities are finished. But there is more to the story. When a couple shoots off a new marriage it’s hard to change the results of w...

Week Four: Gender and Family Life            This week I was really humbled and brought to some new realizations that changed my perspective and understanding on the human species.            Most of my life, I have been taught that men and women are the same, other than some physical differences, we are all the same and should be treated as such. I have always been told that men and women need the same opportunities and should be respected in all points of life, but what I gained in mentality and support, I also lost a lot of fundamental truths that come along with understanding that men and women are actually very different, and that the differences are actually vital to all social structures whether  that’s the family unit, the social circle, or society as a whole. Understanding, respecting, and building upon these differences will inevitably improve the human family.         ...

Week Three: Social Class and Diversity             Hey everyone, I am really pleased to write this blog post today. In the past week I have had things brought to my attention that are very real and sensitive. As I try to relay what I learned I hope that you may understand the developed empathy and sincerity I use as I express my thoughts.       So, this week we covered social class and cultural diversity. To me, I thought this topic was sure to be valid regarding the family, but I learned that it actually is so much more encompassing.       In my preparation and studies, I was directed to a series of short films that are published on YouTube that show a diverse range of people and their unique circumstances. The videos showed the different social classes and the habits (traditions) that they followed. For example; in an upper-class family video, the rich folks in interviewed were very aware of their class and the...

Week Two:  Understanding Family Dynamics & Theories Hey family and friends!       I hope your week has been spectacular and filled with love. I'm glad that you've taken some time to read my weekly blog post. My hopes are that I may teach and learn new information with you that we may both grow in knowledge together. Today I'll share some of the amazing insight I learned this week from the material I read, and the discussions that I participated in. I hope you enjoy and see the eternal truths behind this trove of information. God bless.       So this week was all about the theories that have been made by professionals psychologists and family study professionals to help identify how families operate and sustain themselves. There are four different theories that I read on, they are; Exchange Theory, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interaction Theory, and the Family System Theory. Each on of these explains the family dynamic in a way that is so...

Week one:  Societal Trends and the Family               Wow what a week! You know, I’ve not need disappointed by the material that I have been reading regarding the family this last week. My teacher has started our class out with our first topic which goes into the background of societal trends around marriage and family. The documentaries I watched and the articles I have read regarding this have properly blown my mind and led me to question the fabric of our current society regarding marriage and family. This week we have been learning an exorbitant amount of information that I never even knew was out there!                           I learned that there are indeed specific trends that are surfacing in our society that are going to have a profound effect on our future generations. A lot of these trends are not unheard of, actually in a daily conversation many of these t...