Purposes of Parenting

What are some of the purposes of parenting? There a 100's of answers, but I think a very important one is to teach patience. In class someone said this, " Some kids are sent to parents for the parents to learn from and some kids are sent to the parents for the kids to learn from." I thought this was really interesting because most of the time I think that parents are supposed to teach their kids everything but in reality, a lot of the times kids are the ones that teach the parents.

Who gets effected by parenting? EVERYONE! I think of having to deal with roommates who were raised differently. People you work with, live with, spend time with. The way your parents raised you effects your whole life and other people have to deal with you!

Compromise/Concensus

What is the difference between compromise and consensus  In class we discussed this but I am not quite sure that I understand it. I am going to try my best to explain but all you readers out there are welcome to put in your input! On a compromise both parties give and take a little. A consensus is when all parties agree 100% about everything that is being decided upon. I thought this was really interesting to think about when it comes to marriage. Can you compromise God's will? I don't think so. A consensus IS Gods will. While making a consensus it is important to be very open and honest with everyone. People become whole and unifies when the come to a consensus 

COMMUNICATION is KEY

Communication is SOOOO important. Not just for couples but for all members of the family. It is easier to communicate if you have shared meanings (symbolic interaction theory). Communication doesn't always come easy, it is something everyone has to work on. As silly as it sounds there is something called meta-communication which is communication about communication. I know of so many arguments that I have had with boyfriends, friends, family all because of a lack of communication. No body meant to suck at communication, but it is different for everyone. So it is okay to talk about how you like to communicate.

Physical Intimacy

Physical Intimacy is a beautiful thing. I think as members of the church sometimes we shy away from talking about it because it is saved until marriage.It is very private and sacred, but it is okay to talk about. It is important to remember that this physical intimacy is the thing that makes us closest to being like a God. Not only does it bond our bodies, but it bonds our souls together.

In class we discussed the things that make a guy sexy and things that make a girl sexy. Since the class is 90% girls we mostly talked about what makes a guy sexy. These are some of the things we came up with:
-smell
-voice
-how they act with children
-if they can cook
-when they make eye contact
-helping out around the house
-if he has a good relationship with his family
-sensitivity
-gives me a sense of safety and security

The thing that makes a girl sexy are:
-smell
-the way we dress
-hard worker
-sexual

Bringing in the Children

Once a couple has a kid their marital  happiness starts to go down. It is not that they are miserable, but they both become more distracted from each other. They now have this other person that they have to take care of. The father could become more busy with jobs to financially provide for the child. The mom will become more busy with taking care of and nurturing the child. With every child that comes this happiness in marriage continually decreases. It is important to keep a marriage strong and still be romantic with each other.

DATING

In class we talked about the filters of finding a date. Some of these filters may not even be made consciously. The first filter is propinquity. This is people who live near us or are close to us in some setting. We tend not to date people who live far away or are from a different setting. I think this is because it is hard once you get married if you have to travel a long ways in between families. Its just easier if you spouse and you come from around the same place. Also you are more likely to find these people for obvious reasons. The second filter is attractiveness. Well duh! You have to have that initial physical attraction before you want to spend time with them. They don't have to be drop dead sexy but there needs to be an attraction between the two people. The third filter is similarities. It is important to want to do the same things. You don't have to have everything in common, but it is important to have some similarities so you can share some interests!

Purposes of the Family

          Social class has an interesting influence on the purposes of the family. But first what are the purposes of the family. I think that they are: to bring to pass Heavenly Fathers plan; bring children into the world; provide structure for children; contribute to society; help children establish expectations and hopes; offer love and support; and the list could go on and on! So, how does the social class influence these things? Studies show that lower class people tend to get pregnant out of wedlock more often. This situation alone effects many of the purposes of the family. It is hard to provide structure and support as a single parent.
             In class I heard an interesting saying that goes like this "One of the best ways to ensure no poverty is to have a father in the home." Most times men have this drive and known responsibility inside of them to provide for the family. I thought that was really interesting!