Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Parenting
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Finances
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Communication
Non-verbal communication can play a large role in communication. We talked about how clothing, hygiene, facial expressions, touch and body language are all forms of non-verbal communication. We talked about how the way you dress and present yourself sends a message. When my husband was younger his two older brothers started dressing in baggy t-shirts and jeans and hanging out with a group of kids that their dad did not approve of. So their dad made a rule that they could only wear a t-shirt once a week, the rest of the week they had to wear collared shirts. My husband said it didn't take long for the unapproved behavior to cease and their friends to change. What they wore effected the people that they hung out with because it communicated a certain message.
We also talked about listening. I feel like this is just as important in communication as any other apsect. It doesn't do much good to communicate if noone is listening. We talked about different types of poor listeners.
The Intellectual Listener: These people only listen to the verbal communication. They appraise what the speaker has said verbally, but ignore the nonverbal cues.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Coping
- it's ok to be angry but not to cry
- "They're in a better palce" undermining your emotions of being sad or upset
- there is a certain way to suffer/grieve
We talked about how there are many different types of family crisis that can occur, but how well a family deals with them depends on the resources that are available to them. Some of the resources that are important in dealing with stress are:
- Religion
- Rituals or traditons that help keep normality
- humor
- family cohesion
- spending family time together
- journaling
- exercising
- having places of refuge
- working together
- friend and community support
- financial support such as health insurance, savings, education, car insurance, life/death insurance
When I was 13 years old, my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor and it was definitely a family crisis for us. My dad spent several weeks in the ICU and several more weeks in the hospital. It was several months before he could even walk again. Some resources that we had to help us deal with the stress and crisis was having the support of our ward and neighbors. It was helpful to have others who were not directly involved in the crisis be able to help organize meals to be brought in, answer phone calls and emails, help drive us kids to and from places and other daily activities that my mom couldn't do because she was preoccupied with my dad. We also were blessed to be military, which meant that my dad still had his job, his surgeries and other medical bills were paid for and we had strong support from those he worked with.
This week we also talked about the family life cycle. There are six stages to this cycle.
1. Leaving home
2. Coupling - commiting to an intimate relationship outside of your family of origin
3. Parenting young children
4. Parenting adolescents
5. Launching children
6. Retirement/old age
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Children
"Husband and wife are encouraged to pray and counsel together as they plan their families." and that "Decisions about birth control and the consequences of those decisions rest solely with each married couple."
In the most recent general conference, Elder Neil L. Anderson gave a talk entitled "Children". He said "When to have a child and how many children to have are private decisions to be made between a husband and wife and the Lord. These are sacred decisions - decisions that should be made with sincere prayer and acted on with great faith." He later goes on to say "Brothers and sisters, we should not be judgmental with one another in this sacred and private responsibility."