I learned that children and their upbringing is very important. You have to handle them with care. In class our teacher showed us ways we can help our children feel loved and like they belong. One thing we should do is to make contact with them. This can be either with our eyes, a hug, or a pat on the back. Humans need contact to be able to feel loved and accepted. Another things is appreciation and options. Our teacher told us that children need challenges to grow and feel like they are contributing. A way we can do this is by giving them choices. These can be very easy and simple choices like what to eat for dinner. The appreciation part can be done by giving thanks to them when they do even the tiniest and insignificant of thing that they would normally not be noticed for.

Children have a hard time learning when all parents are doing is yelling at them and punishing them. We have to teach them life lessons with love and kindness as well.This does not mean that we have to forget about punishing them for their actions but we should treat them with love and firmness. Children are our future we should teach them the way we would want to be treated as children.

What I learned today was that families are different now. In the past families did everything together even chores. Now families spend a lot more time apart and do not talk half as much as they used to. One of  the things we learned was whether women's education is wasted when they stay home and take care of their kids. We learned that though a woman stays home she will still be able to learn while she teaches her children the things they need to know to have a successful life. One of the most important things in my opinion for a woman to do is raise her children well.

The reason I feel this is so important is because their children will determine the future. If you raise your children right and well they will be able to raise the next generation well. One thing that a mom will be able to better do if she is home is to be more connected to her children. They will be able to spend more time together and talk more. The relationship you make with your family is the most important thing you can accomplish in this life. In class one comment my teacher made that struck with me is that no one at their death bed says they wish they would have made more money or been more successful at their job. They usually say that they would have wanted to spend more time with their family. This is what I want to keep in mind and accomplish for myself when I grow up and throughout my life.

I learned this week that we must have a fair and open mind when making decisions. This is especially true with our spouses. You have to have a disagreement instead of a contention. The difference between these two is that a contention includes anger while a disagreement is just a difference in opinion or ideas. Something we discussed is how we need to have the Lord in all of our decisions. This is because he knows more than we do of what we need in our lives to help strengthen us for the better.

Another specific part of having the Lord in all of our decisions was to start every meeting or discussion with a prayer. This way we will be able to interpret what the Lord wants us to do and not misinterpret what  he wants us to do. We should end with a prayer as well so we can close the meeting. This guarantees that no one will discuss the matters outside of the home or with anyone else. This promotes trust in the family and understanding. We should all put in effort to have the Lord in our lives and make decisions without anger but with openness.

This week I learned about the troubles of family life. The things we should and should not do as well. We tend to not know what to do in certain situations.

My teacher this week taught us that we must use the resources we are given. For instance in class we were given an example of a family consisting of a husband and wife. They were to have their first born child. The husband was always working to provide for his family. One day the wife was going down the stairs when she fell. She ended up having the baby early and it passed away. The family didn't cope too well with what had happened. They didn't know how to express their feelings to each other. They also didn't use their resources that they had. These consisted of each other and their families.

We must always try to help each other in our married or any other relationship. If we can't express how we feel or why we feel that way we will end up separating because of heart ache or anger. It is hard to love someone you don't understand or you get the wrong impression about.

This week I learned about boundaries between married and engaged people from others. How much distance should you have from your guy friends as a married woman? Is it okay to flirt on Facebook with other people while you are married? If not how should you go about this situation.

One of the things my teacher taught us was to put up boundaries. You should always have a set of rules for those people and yourselves. For instance you should never be alone with the opposite sex or same gender. This can cause confusion and often other misunderstandings to happen. You will end up doing something you regret. This is especially with having relationships with other people where you flirt. Those people will get the wrong idea and your own spouse will lose trust in you.

You must always discuss boundaries with your spouse. This way both of you are on the same page and can solve issues or problems together. Marriage is built on trust. You should be able to talk to your spouses about your friends.

I learned today what trials married people have in life. I never knew how hard it could be to be married and to start a family. We always think marriage is all sunshine and rainbows. Either that or we think that if only they would talk out their problems they would be able to settle their differences. This is not always the case saying doing something is always harder than we think.

In my class today I learned that there are more problems in marriage than we think and we can't always settle them so easily. For instance there were examples in class about how a woman tried to talk out their problems with her husband but he would never respond. Lack of communication skills is a problem with a lot of marriages. Our background and how we grew up affects our marriage life in the future. If we were taught to ignore problems in our family before marriage then we will tend to do what we have the habit to do. Marriage is hard when you are juggling a baby between you. You will both end up feeling withdrawn from each other. I feel like the only way to get through marriage is to have the Lord blessing you through out. We can do all hard things through Christ who strengthens us. 

I learned this week that face to face contact between people while talking is very important. Especially if you are dating or plan to get married to that person. In class we were given many examples of married couples that had different kinds of communication before they were married. One was how a couple had only  used Skype during their earlier relationship. They ended up getting into lots of fights and if I recall correctly even got divorced.

One aspect of communication with each other in person that helps reduce these chances is that you get to see more of the person's character. My teacher explained that you can get to know a lot about a person by their body language. For instance by the way a person walks. You can usually tell if that person is confident or not. While I was learning these concepts what came to mind was a quote from the movie Frozen. In this movie Christoph is exasperated by Anna's choice of marrying a man she just met. He tells her what if you don't like the way he eats or the way he picks his nose and eats it. We should never rush into relationships before we have been in many different situations with that person. Different situations help us to see how they react when something makes them angry or upset.

I learned this with one of my friends. We never really got to spend time with each other much. One day though we had time to do something fun. we had everything planned but something happened to mess with our plans. My friend got so angry and upset that she wouldn't even think about what else we could do. She just left and decided that if our plans were ruined then why bother doing anything else. We don't want to end up marrying someone who has a bad temper or doesn't know how to adjust very well to surprising situations. This is why person to person settings are better equipped for a solid good relationship. 

The most surprising thing I learned in my class today was how some homosexuals become homosexual. My teacher taught us from researches and scientists papers that most homosexuals start out just trying to be accepted by the same sex because they are their peers. Then when they go through puberty and they are still trying to get that acceptance they start to have sexual desires towards them. Homosexuals are not born this way they develop this way by past experiences and environments. We should all try helping them and loving them. They are still our friends and loved ones. They are just going through difficult times right now.

I have now come to view Latino families differently than I recently had. I live in Northern California where many Latinos come to pick fruit. I always respected them for their  ability to work hard at their jobs. We seem to take for granted the fact that they work so hard in our state. They work at the jobs most Caucasians refuse to take. I learned in class that not only are Latinos hard workers they have also went through a lot just to get here. The money it cost to get into the United States legally or illegally is immense. These good people spend all that they have to come here and have a better life for their families. The father usually comes by himself to earn money and get a place for his family to stay. This may seem like nothing but it could take months if not years to do this. By the time the rest of the family arrives it is usually broken apart. Latino families know what it is like to start with nothing and work hard to achieve even a little. I give an applause for their hard work and dedication to their families future.

What I have learned this week is that all family members affect each other. We even have hidden rules that we follow in our families that allow us to live together smoothly without killing each other. For instance one of mine in my family was you turned the TV down and were absolutely quite whenever someone was on the phone. I learned this when I was playing with my brother too loud. My Dad happened to be taking a business call and I received a swift kick to the butt to shut me up. Little rules like this are how many families function. We all have our own little hidden rules that we grow up with and take with us into our new families. These are what make every family different.

 I would like to share with all of you what I have learned in my exciting FAM 106 class. This week I realized that some people believe that the earth is too populated and that we need to stop having so many children. In my class I was taught the opposite with research and valid facts. Our birthing rates are very low all over the world. We are having less and less children every twenty years or less. This will lead to the decrease of our population and the lessening of our human capital. Human capital is the knowledge or ideas we can produce to the world and where we live. Children our sent from God and are very precious. If we do not give them a chance to come to this world and help make it a better place then how will we. When there are no children for the next generation to provide inventions and ideas for success we will be stuck in the same rut of life as we are recently.

This is my first blog ever!