Marriage and Family Studies

                We have been discussing a lot about marriage in the past, but this week, we talked about parenting. That can definitely be a difficult thing, and I am sure that all of us wish there was a book that could tell us exactly what to do and what not to do as a parent. Unfortunately, that does not exist, which is why we need to find many different options through research and other things, and then decide what is best for us as parents. Since all children are different, all families are different, and all parents are different, some things will work for some people but not for others.                 The one thing that I found to be most beneficial was to first realize what the child’s or teen’s needs are. Most of the time, when a child is acting out, it stems from some unmet need that may have been overlooked by their paren...

I am sure that if you were to poll a number of people and ask them what they thought the most important aspect of a happy and successful marriage is, you would hear many different answers. You might hear selflessness, love, service, etcetera, but I think the most common answer is communication. That is what our discussion focused on in class this week, and I can really see why. Even if a marriage starts with so much love and affection, there can be little things that bother us and blind us to the love that we once felt unless we are able to talk about that and work through problems and issues throughout the marriage because, let’s face it, everybody has problems. There is no way around that, but if we can learn how to talk about it, they become much easier to work through. I have noticed that one of the biggest problems may just be keeping things inside. Let’s say a man and woman were recently married. That can be a pretty big transition, and they are getting to know each other i...

This week we discussed family life stresses and how people cope. Everyone has different circumstances and goes through different things in life. We all have different things we need to learn while we are on this Earth, and our Father in Heaven has a different path for all of us to go through. Some of us go through harder things than others, but I also know that we can get through anything that is put in our path if we have the Savior with us. Personally, I feel that my life has been pretty easy, but I see so much that others go through and struggle with. That is part of the reason I want to be a Marriage and Family Therapist. I want to help people through those tough things that they experience. Obviously, I can not do everything, but I hope that I will be able to be helpful to some. At first, I started to think that maybe because I have not experienced even close to some of the terrible things that other people have had to go through and feel in their lives that maybe this i...

I think the most important thing we discussed in class this week is the idea of what it means to be truly faithful to your spouse, the idea of infidelity and all that entails. We started the week discussing sexual intimacy and sexuality, and I thought that when we began talking about infidelity, it would be all about what we always think of in relation to this word. Our minds, at least mine does, tend to think on the sexual affair and cheating side of things, but my eyes were sort of opened. There are many more ways than physically cheating on your spouse that you may not be 100% loyal to them. One way is through our friends and family. Yes, we can still have friends and have fun with our friends occasionally after we are married. Yes, we can still talk with our families and love them and be with them at times as well. Where we can become less loyal to our spouse in a way that may be damaging to our relationship is when we begin to disclose so much, especially complaints about ou...