Gender, and How if affects us.

The definition of gender is male or female ( chromosomes)

I think gender has always been one of those subjects that can be tricky or uncomfortable to talk about. When your younger your parents hesitate to explain those things to you; for fear that it will corrupt your mind. Are they right to feel that way?
 In our world today i think when it comes to gender you as a parent needs to be the one that tells your children about those things. This world has such a twisted view on gender roles; and if you want your children to grow up with all of the facts; you need to be the person to tell them.

Gender is something that i have always been aware of; their are certain ways that males and females are perceived... guys are tough, girls are weak, for example.

Something interesting that i loved was that we talked about the fact that our sex was predetermined. I had never thought of this before and i thought it was extremely interesting. If i was a different gender how would i be? My life would be completely different. There is a reason for everything that we go through and i definitely think that we need to trust in God's plan.


What i loved about this week was that we were all able to talk so openly about a subject that can be potentially awkward. Some of the facts we learned shocked me. I was so unaware that so many people struggle with same- sex attraction. The end of this week was interesting to learn about; i feel like at times we don't realize how much people struggle until they are willing to open up and change. I think it is so important to be kind and Christlike to those who are dealing with these struggles. I have realized that you never know what an individual is dealing with and how important it is to be kind and show love.

I think it is also important to state that if you want to change having a same-sex attraction you can change it, if you are willing to put in that work. It is something that can be overcome.

I am grateful for this weeks lessons; i have learned a lot and it has changed my outlook on gender and the roles that we all play.

Our Culture Effects Us

This week we discussed a lot about cultures in families.

Are all cultures equally valid?

Family Culture influences where i go from here.

Traditions in families influence what happens in your individual future.

In my particular family tradition is extremely important. We have so much fun when we are together and i thoroughly enjoy each moment and things we do together.

However i recently found out that a long standing tradition ( that we are all together on Christmas) will be broken. My oldest sister and her family are staying at their own house for Christmas. This will be the first time ever, and to be honest it has really upset me.

I feel that this is the only down side to tradition; when you are so used to things being a certain way you have a much harder time changing them.

I guess this change in my own life is good for when i do get married; since i will have to make certain sacrifices. I definitely think that upholding traditions is important for a family, but at the same time when you have a new family of your own you should make traditions that incorporate both families.

We justify a lot of different cultures; instead of tolderate; we justify and that eventually changes our thoughts and views towards those things.

-- I apply this situation too arranged marriages. They used to be so frowned upon and now they are accepted and encouraged.

When family situations change sometimes the person knew what it was, not what it is.
You no longer see things as they have been, you see them as they were. This causes a lot of tension to the family.
How do we restructure? You have to work together as a family in love and harmony.

This week has been great and i have learned a lot! :)  I look forward to digging deeper next week.

Understanding Our Families

This week we talked about Theories and Understanding Families.

I really enjoyed everything we learned and i hope you enjoy reading what i have to say about it :)

A theory is an attempt to explain a phenomenon.

Systems Theory- Individuals influence each other in ways. Look at a family as a system. How they influence each other.
Your birth order and influence helps what you do. Good or Bad.
We're all born into a changing system. Every system needs someone to play a specific role.
- Rules.
-- Learn the rules by violating them
-- Parents may not know the rules, until the child does something.

Exchange Theory-  costs are lower than your rewards. ( what do i get out of it? the same i put in?)
-- You withdraw

Symbolic Interaction Theory: ( what it means to you) Are behaviors have meaning. We create meaning out of experiences. Biggest problem is communication. The behavior changes, depending on how they react to it.
-- Interaction- action that happens between two people.

Conflict Theory: Conflicting doesn't mean you don't like a person; you simply just don't agree.
-Power can be overt
-All families find ways to fix conflict.

Do all things out of love. <3

- Systems theory helps people have a new experience. We can and we should use all theories together. **

Digging Deeper Into Families

This was our first week of class, i learned a lot about families. This week we talked a lot about societal trends in families.

I am so excited that i will get to blog about all that i have learned for this class! :)

-passion allows you to attain deeper learning.

how do you affect your family? we talked a lot about how our families are and how we impact them.

Here are some stats we learned this week that i found to be very interesting:

- Premarital sex has increased
- Unwed Mothers has increased
- 40% of kids are born out of wedlock ( 70% for African- American Families)
- Birth rates are decreasing ( not having kids)
- Divorce rates are increased
- 75% of Americans have never been divorced


* All divorce spikes influence each other.

we talked about which of these statistics are significant, interesting or incidental.

The significant ones are: PreMarital Sex, Unwed Mothers, Birth Rates, Divorce
The interesting ones are Marriage age has increased
None of the above are incidental.

As you can see this week we learned a lot about things that are very significant to our society. They are all things that we should be educated about and aware of.

I am excited to continue to learn about the family and how i can help change and influence it for the better.