Marriage

Today's trends we find that there are fewer people marrying, more people cohabitating, and that marital trends seem to follow societal trends. We find that a relationship and a marriage requires work from both people. They must both feel comfortable enough to lean on the other. Working together and loving each other truly does bring out the best in the couple:) Although, marriage is fun and totally worth it, is not always easy. It takes effort and dedication to make the family and household run smoothly. Some adjustements couples have to go through are: adapting to living styles, learning effective ways to communicate, personality differences, financial budgets, decision making skills, schedules, handling in-laws, daily discoveries-how to handle and manage the little things, and budgeting time! These take work, but can be overcome! Everyone is different, but when two people are in love and willing to do anything for the other, happiness, acceptance, and true love and joy outweigh everything else!:)

Love

The defintion of love includes four greek terms, Storge(parent/child love), Philia(friendship love), Eros(man & woman love, also where the word erotic comes from), and Agape(love for someone's well being). Love is such a wonderful thing! Not only do we all want love, but we should do what we can to express how much we appreciate and love others. Before we jump into love though, we should follow the stages of dating, courtship, engagement, and then marriage. We should also choose to date rather than just "hang out." As girls, we shouldn't put so much pressure on the boys to do everything. It takes both to put in effort and commitment:) I really enjoyed this topic in class and it made me feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life and to have such an amazing husband, family, and friends!

Gender Roles

In class we learned about the different gender roles men and women have. For example, women are naturally more nurturing, they're more expressive, verbal, emotional, and contain more white matter which is connective tissue in the brain to help memory etc. Men on the other hand, according to A Proclamation to the World states that they are to provide, preside, and protect the family. Men are also naturally more aggressive, they're more likely to supress their feelings, and they contain more gray matter which is more open space in the brain allowing them to be spatially oriented and retain more information. I believe in equality, but that does not mean men and women are or should be the exact same in all aspects. We all have been blessed with our strengths and weaknesses and I think we're supposed to be different to balance each other out. Whether male or female, we all matter and our roles are important!