Finals week

Wow.... 4 finals in 24 hours. I CAN'T wait till I'm done. Thankfully I only have one on friday :)
My car is FULLLLLLL. You never realize how much stuff you have until you have to pack it all into a Suburban. So anyway. BY FAR this was my favorite class!! I enjoyed it a lot and wish I could take more classes like it.

The final

This class has turned out to be very interesting. I really enjoyed the teacher and felt he presented the information very well. I was never bored or felt that this class didn't apply to me. He gave many different situations in which what we were learning could be applied and gave a lot of examples to help illustrate the points he was presenting.

As for the final, I am a bit nervous about the essays. I feel these are among the hardest we've had all year and are very broad. It will be interesting to see how this goes!

Final

I am currently studying for the final tomorrow and i am very nervous. I hope that i can do well on it to get an A in the class. Over all what we have covered for this test is pretty easy and i think it shouldn'tbe too bad. Although i though that for the last test and I did not do so well. I am not going to go study some more and hopefull do well on this final!!!

...end of class

I have really enjoyed this family science class due to the relaxed environment which allowed all students to become involved in the classroom. Our last class this week was a good experience because we were put in the situation of being the professional. Watching the clip from Fisher really allowed me to get a differnet perspective on what being a therapist would be like. It takes knowledge and expereince to know what to say in certain situations with patients or clients. I thought that the lectures really gave a lot of insite on how families and individual grow and develope. I will take this knowledge and build off of it further in my future classes. I am a Family Science major and this class reassured me that this major is the right choice for me.

This Class....

I am excited for our final test in this class. But at the same time, really sad. I have enjoyed this class. The Prof was amazing and really interesting. In the beginning I wasn't really looking forward to this class, but that quickly changed. I understand more now about Families and how to approach problem. I wish everyone luck on this final. 

Working with Families

This was a really interesting class discussion. It helped me to see things in a different way with how I answer with my responses now. The transitional responses to this subject were forms that I hear quite often when I am at work or even talking with others. When I myself begin teaching I would hope that when I do come into contact with these responses I use them to the best of my ability and use them correctly. When I do start teaching and am asked one of these responses and something sad or devistating happens to one of my students or their families, I hope that I can use the terms correctly and in a way that dosen't come off horrible. For instance with personal experience I will try not to use "It happened to me", or "I know how you feel" because each experience is far different and so is the person's emotions. As for interpersonal support they are all very useful tools. Listening, Understanding, Support, and Help, are all very useful tools to help anyone in a given situations. If a studnet or parent comes to me with something I will most definitly try to use these for support. For myself I have used them for my own friends and family. With my friends I do this when they are talking to me about guys or breakups, etc. I am very focused and do lend advice and really hear and understand what they are saying. As for support I am usually the one that shows the most empathy and support to people, as everyone tells me. For myself I hope to do the same with families that come to me wtih questions or concerns and I am able to answer them and give them these types of support to help them get through their situation(s).

Class Overview

Overall, I learned so much from this class. Even though I may not have the best grade I could have learning about how process is so much more important than content was really neat. I never would have thought about that concept if it wouldnt have been from this class. I think one of the most interesting things that we learned about in class was about parenting. I think that parenting conceptss apply to most of the students in the class, and even if they arnt parents or dont plan on it, they were grown up by a parent or guardian. I think this would have to be one of my favorite classes because of the great discussions that we would have in class. I learned a lot from it and I would reccomend it to someone who was interested in learning about different familiy dynamics.

Class over the semester

I really enjoyed the class this semester. I learned alot of things I didn't realize about how families work. Alot of the times people fight, they focus on the context instead of the process. When I grow up and have a family, I will carry the things we learned in class with me.

Speaker on Tuesday

I really enjoyed the speaker on Tuesday. He was really interesting and it was really helpful actually. I learned a lot more about dealing with people who are run aways or what you should do with them. He showed pictures that really grossed me out and i would not care to see them again but it got his point across. I liked how he showed us not to judge someone who is 'homeless' because it may or may not really be there fault. It reminded me of when i saw a homeless man standing on the road by walmart when i went the other night. I always feel bad for them.

Final Exam

Im hoping the final exam is like all the other tests.  The essay questions don't look too bad and I thought the information we learned this last section was interesting so it should be easier to remember. 

traditional responses

Today in class we talked about the different types of responses. I feel like you use each type of response but it just depends on what situation you are in because that allows you to decide which form of response to choose. When I think about it I feel like I use the advice-giving and reassurance the most. Sometimes I use the personal experience but it usually depends what type of situation the person I am talking to is in.

Guest Speaker

While I did find him interesting was I the only one who was a little scared? I was in the first row and I felt like he was yelling at me. The information was interesting however, even if I didn't necassarily enjoy all of the pictures he showed us.

Guest Speaker

I have seen him twice now and he still did an awesome job! He came and talked to my special ed class last semester. He has so much energy. I like the fact he isnt into scare tactics but into the truth. I never realized that homelessness was such a problem here in Lincoln Ne. I just figured it would be bigger problem in California or somewhere bigger than here. All those crazy stories about people on drugs, the homelessness, and the stds is all a little shocking. It definately gives you something to think about.

Guest Speaker

The speaker that came to talk on tuesday was quite interesting. It was an interesting way to find out about Meth and to see what it does to people. The pictures really put a different spin on it and show it in a whole new light. Learning about meth bugs was quite interesting too. The way that it makes people that paranoid to think that they really do have bugs crawling in their skin. Also, finding out about how homeless people live and what they have too do to survive is also a sad story. The way the homeless have to build makeshift houses and live out in freezing temperatures is hard to fathom as well. I thought that he did a really good job with the presentation and had a lot of energy and was lots of fun. I had a family member that had a problem with drugs and seeing what it did to him was really scary. The effects from the drugs that he showed on the screen were like the ones my family member went through. Another thing talked about was the reasons why girls run more frequently then boys, and it was quite disturbing knowing some of the reasons. Learning that women run for the reasons they do is sad and I can only hope that the girls that run get out of their situations and have a better life.

Guest Speaker

Wow.... he had so much energy!!! He was so all over the place but knew exactly what to present and how to present it. He made me really want to join the program to help the homeless. I'm really glad there are people like him in the world. They make the world a much better place.

The last week

Im really not too worried about the final in this class. I think that it will be pretty easy. I did a lot better on my paper than I thought I would. I wasnt quite sure what they were looking for, but I guess I must have did it correctly!

speaker

I really liked the speaker that came on Tuesday. I felt that it was very interesting and that I learned a lot. It was kind of gross to see all the pictures of what meth can do to you but I also feel that those pictures will help people see what a bad choice it is to use any type of drug. Also I like when we have guest speakers because I think that it mixes things up and makes us more informed about all the different things around us.

Guest Speaker

I was really glad that the guest speaker showed up today. I was almost ready to leave class, but then he walked in the door. I know that this may sound weird but I really liked when he showed the different pictures of the meth users and of the "homes" that the homeless people around Lincoln had built under bridges. I feel that this is a topic that many times people don't think about. And when he showed the meth pictures, it was really scary to see what it can do to you but I feel like many times that is a way to make kids and adults think about what may happen if they start doing drugs. Knowing that the prevalence of these issues occur here in Lincoln is also very important. I would say the the guest speaker really did open my eyes to the problems that Lincoln faces as well. Homelessness is found everywhere not just in big cities.

speaker

It was really good to see the speaker in class today because it shows just what some people are doing in our community for drug, particularly meth, prevention and awareness. I enjoyed this speaker because he was very energetic and could really relate to students with what he was talking about. I know that in many high schools, kids are not getting enough drug education, or effective education. I can see how this particular speaker can get student's attention and respect. I think it is important for more people like him to get involved in helping needy children and teens. I am interested in working with situations similar to this for my future career and listening today really got me excited and interested in making a difference.

Speaker

I absolutely loved the speaker we had in class today.  The information he presented was very sad and gross but he made it so interesting with his high energy.  I could not believe some of the stories he told.  The one with the 19 year old with 4 kids really stands out to me and the pictures he showed of the before and after were incredibly eye opening.  His presentation proved that lower income, high risk children really are at a disadvantage and it makes me grateful to have the life that I have

Adoption

So this past week has been very interesting for me. I received a letter from my biological father. I also was shown a letter dated back in 1990, telling my mother that she put me up for adoption.( From my biological father). So I really don't know what to think. I am really happy that my mother didn't and I am very upset at the man in question. He told me in his 4 page letter that he would like to meet me/ but only if I wanted to. And I really don't know how to feel. This is a man who for 18 said or sent nothing to me.

Adoption

It seems that most people who are adopted due tend to want to find out about their birth parents. i had a friend in high school who was the opposite. She didn't want to know because she felt that giving up a child isn't really the best thing. She was happy with the parents she had and felt that was enough. I think personally it was more that she didn't want her adoptive parents to feel hurt over interest in birth parents

Adoption

Yesterday right after class, I went back to my room and watched Smart Guy. The episode was about how one of the characters found out they were adopted and wanted to find his birth mom. It was weird since 30 min earlier we were talking about how kids that are adopted tend to want to find out about their birth parents.

working poor? poor working?

THe whole Working Poor and Poor Working people thing confuses me. What's the difference? Why does it matter that there is a difference? I dunno... I was just confused...

Economy

The main way I've noticed the effect of the economy on my family is probably through my brother. He lived in California and was struggling to get by. What his salary was compared to his cost of living and everything else, he could barely make it. He had to borrow money from me and my parents. My parents were also feeling this burden and told him that he was going to have to start paying his own car insurance and cell phone soon. He began applying to other places and despite the tough job market was able to get a job making double what he does now in Houston. The cost of living is lower and he makes more money. He's doing very well now. However, about a month of working at his new job they began making lay-offs. He hasn't been laid off yet and has had nothing but confidence instilled from his boss but still the threat is there which is tough.

Domestic Violence

Last Thursday we talked about domestic violence. Finding out that men are more frequently abused by women, but women are frequently injured more was a shock. I did not know that men were more frequently abused. It does make you wonder what it is that is happening in these households that constitutes abuse to the men. It just seems weird that it is a more frequent thing to men then women. Another area discussed was the factors affecting the impact: Type, Frequency, Duration, and the relationship of the perpetrator. When you think of duration it shows how long something has been going on, and goes to say how much it impacted the child and if the child will be the same someday. That is the thing that worries me when I hear or know of someone who has been abused. Is that child's life going to be hard and is he/she going to abuse their own children. The type seems to be hard either way. Either verbal or physical. Yes physically it can put you in the hospital and kill you, but verbally it can do the same. It does just as much damage if not more. It can get to the person in so many ways. The relationship is also very difficult, being if you trust them it is much harder to get over it and go on. That would be the one thing that would be hardest for me if it happened to someone I knew. Now frequency is always so hard to see either way with verbal or physical. It is difficult to see what the frequency has done to someone you love. I only hope that if it does happen to someone I know that I have the strength to hold back and not physically harm the person myself. Sexual assult was the other topic that was disscussed. I never knew that the numbers were what they were. It is sad to see that so many rapes go unreported and that all of these high school girls face these issues. It is scary to see what the image and media portray, and if it has to do with why this happens, or what is going on at home as well. What is the most frightening is the large number of rapes and that they are commited by an intimate partner. Now what does that say?

The Economy

Like many others in the class my family has been affected by this falling economy as well. My uncle is a business owner. His business builds automotive body shop machines like tire changers and other things like that. Well this economy is so terrible that they are having problems staying a float. My uncle is actually considering filling for bancruptcy for the company because they just arent making the money to pay the bills. That sucks to know. And since the business isnt doing well my aunt and uncle are doing well either. They are used to living a rather blessed life and now its hard for them to make ends meet and they are living off of credit cards.

Quizzes

I'm actually a little worried about the quizzes. Tests and quizzes make me nervous and for some reason I seem to have a hard time taking them no matter what class I take. I hope they go well!!!

The Economy

Like discussed in class, my family has also been impacted by the downfall of the economy. Although I dont think that my direct family has been impacted I know that my Grandpa has been extremly impacted. He had a ton of money invested in the stock market, and all of it has disappeared into thin air. I think its really hard for him, but he is still living a good life. He goes on vacations every once in a while and even though there is a big loss in the economy he still lives life to the fullest. I think I can really learn from his example and learn to be satisfied in any circumstance that I find myself in, because if the market keeps falling, things will most likely only get worse.

Economy

Like many others in here as well in class my family has been affected by this new down fall of economy that we have today. There is only My mother and I and for the most part I would say we are safe finacally. But because of how the stock market is doing, we lost a lot of money that was put in a E fund from the state. ( Like a normal stock but because if its educational purpose, its tax deductible) So now, because of that I am going to have to take out more loads that I was planning to.

economy

The economy recently affected my family.  My grandparents who live in Colorado and I only see about once a year were planning on staying a my house for a week for Easter.  My uncle who lives with them decided to stay at home because his job has been laying a lot of people off and he did not want to risk taking a few days of and losing his job.  The night before Easter we got a call from my uncle saying he has fallen down the stairs and broken his leg.  My grandparents had to immediately leave, drive back to Colorado because my uncle was having surgery, and missed spending Easter with my family.  Now my uncle is unable to work because he does a lot of lifting at his job and now his job is really at risk.  He also has many heart problems and the added stress of having to think how he is going to get a job with no college education after he is fired has not been good for him.

class today

In class today we talked about the effects of the economy and how people spend or save their money. I am lucky enough to have a family that has not been effect by the economy and I am extremely grateful for that. Next there are 4 meanings of money: status, security, enjoyment, and control. I can see all of those traits in myself, family, and friends. I feel that I hold all 4 characteristics, but it just depends on what is happening in my life and that decides what trait I show. Like after working all summer I feel enjoyment and status because I can now treat myself to something that I want really bad (enjoyment) and I feel really good and happy and in a way powerful (status) because I saved all summer and I have something to show for it. Therefore, I think that it depends on the situation and that is how we decide how we feel about the meaning of money.

Quiz

I just took the two quizzes and I thought they were pretty simple if you read the book and went to class. The grading thing said i got a 10 out of 10 but i'm not sure if that was just like completing it and he is going back to grade it or if it really graded it. I am also excited that the only quiz we will have is another easy 5 point one because i was pretty nervous for the quizzes at the beginning of the semester and I did not do very good on the real in class quiz we did have. I also thought what we talked about today was very interesting, of course this whole semester has been eye openning for me. The thing that i thought used a lot of thinking was "Working Poor" i first didn't understand the difference between them but now that you said what each of them mean it makes a lot of sense. My mom works at a Housing Agency and i worked for her for a while and i said a lot of the the "poor that are working." All of them were suppose to have jobs and a source of income yet not all of them did.

economy

Today many people are affected by the economy. Some families people have lost their jobs or lost some retirement money. It is common for families to go through some struggle because of the economy these days. Recently I have been trying to get a job for summer and I have had no luck. I've applied at eight different places and none of them are hiring.

The Interview

So I don't know if anyone else found asking almost strangers very private questions uncomfortable, but I sure did. I really liked doing it don't get me wrong but some of the question I asked got mixed responses. I really liked this assignment and I really think I got alot out of it. I felt bad though because at the end of the interview the parents were not to pleased with one another.

OMG!

how is it possible to go from getting 65/100 to getting a 100/100?!?!?!?!?! That's what happened with my Sociology test! We had a test yesterday and I just looked to see if the grades were up and sure enough i got a 100!!! I don't know how that's possible. I barely studied. It just seemed to be my lucky day!! :D

dress up

Last week in class we discussed how young children express themselves through dress up and play. I found it entertaining to discuss how even boys dress up as women to play on different roles and be someone else. I remember my older brother and I would dress up in my tutus and dance around when we were very young. It was a fun way for us to bond and become more expressive with one another. We also talked about how dress up and play are forms of communication and that definitely applied to me as a young child. I would always put on makeup and dresses which would "transform" me into a rock star, and I would proceed to sing and dance around my room. I think play helped develop my personality as I explored different ways to look and act. I believe all children should be able to express themselves through dress up and play because it is a great way to have fun and experiment with yourself. I know that once I become a mother, I will have plenty of fun dress up clothes for my kids to enjoy! :)

Parenting Adolescents

In class on Thursday we talked about adolescents and how their behavior is different as they grow up. As an adolescent you are growing up and wanting to experience new things and experiement as well. Some things mentioned were Ego Strength and under that was the loyalty to friends and power or wanting to belong. Those are two major things that you do see a lot of especially now-a-days with kids just wanting their peers to like them or to be popular and some will do whatever it takes in order to be loyal and show their friends just how much they will do for them. It can be very scary raising an adolescent and knowing that that is the case and wondering what they might do just to please their peers or friends. Another was the desire for independence. Now this is a big thing as a teenager, wanting to do things on your own and find out what happens or this and that. I know as a teenager I wanted to independent when I wanted to be and when I was I didn' want my friends let alone my parents or siblings telling me what to do or how to act. That is one key thing when raising teens, you need to let them be independent, explore, make mistakes, live, and have fun. If you don't again it comes around to tuesdays class about how strong is to strong. The last thing we talked about was teen pregnancy. I do believe that teen pregnancy is on the rise and it can be prevented, with parenting, talking to your child, school programs, movies or pamplets on pregnancy to show teens what will happen with your life and how it will change, etc. The media is definetly a strong influence on sexuality. There are kids at the daycare I work at that know words to songs and see things on t.v. that they talk about that they shouldn't even know it or know what that means. I think that if media dosen't start to become more censored, then teens will start having more sex then just within the first year. Media is very appealing to teens, and what they see they think they have to have or do. I think that movies portray only sometimes the good of pregnancy. It seems to be more black, then black and white. I fear that if media and they way parents talk to their children about sex, etc. we will have a big problem in the future.

Family Interview and Pregnancy

That family interview paper was harder than I expected. The length was no problem at all. I am just not sure I wrote about what he wanted to hear. I sort of just flipped the book and wrote about anything that applied to what the family I interviewed had said about the questions asked.
Also, I was a little shocked that teen pregnancy is down considering the fact that MTV and commericals are everywhere supporting sex. Its amazing that the pregnancy rate is down. The promotions, and commericals that sex sells. I was also a little confused as to why the rate only considered teen births and that abortions and miscarriages were put into a different category. If a teen had an abortion why is it not put into the teen PREGNANCY category.

last Thursday

On Thursday we talked about teen pregnancy and I was amazed at how high it was. But yet I was also happy that the percentages of teen pregnancy has gone down. I think that media influences teens' choices. Channels like MTV promote sexual activity and movies like Juno stated that it's okay for a teen to have a baby. In real life it's completely different. In Juno they made raising the baby and finding parents for it even easier. Also her parents understood and stood behind her 100%. In real life the parents don't always support the girl's actions or ideas.

Family Interview Paper

I would also have to say that the paper was difficult to write. It wasn't hard to fill the length requirement, but I am not sure if I wrote about what he was looking for. I found it hard to figure out exactly what he was looking for. I agree that it would have been nice to have an example or at least a bit more direction on the formatting of the paper. I'm very nervous to see what grade I receive.

Family Interview Paper

I had trouble with the family interview paper.  I was not quite sure what he was looking for.  I know he said he did not want to give us examples because then we would copy those, but I think it would have helped a lot.  I just tried to use as many of the terms and topics that we discuss in class as I could.  Hopefully I did well on it.

Family Interview

I also found the family interview paper to be difficult. When looking at the rubric is stated that we needed to barely describe the family structure, but I found it hard to describe the function with barely describing the structure of the family I interviewed. The family that I did interview consisted of a single parent mom and two children, one having Down syndrome. I knew the familiy through my mom, and I have babysat her kids before. There were many things that I found out about the family funtion that I didn't know about them before. Even though the paper was hard to write, and I might not have done it correctly, it was cool to see that no matter who you have in your family, things can always work out if you really want them to.

Family Interview

I found writing the family interview very difficult to do. I wasn't sure of exactly what needed to be in it. I think i did mine pretty wrong but I hope that it was okay. I used a lot of my previous notes that we took in class when we talked about divorce to help me write it. I also used my book but there was not a whole lot in the book that talked about divorce. I talked a lot about the roles thefamily then took on and how it affected the daughter in the long run. After listening to the interview I had, I never realized all of the things that happened with divorce. I have never personally been through it and I hope I never do now that I can see the affects it has on people. I asked all of the questions that he left us on the rubric so i hope i did it right. I really can't afford to get another bad grade. I am a little worred after getting the grade back on the second test. I didn't think i did that bad but I guess I did.

Paper

I hope I did good on the paper we had to hand in today. It was interesting learning about another family and how they interact with each other. During my interview, the couple I was interviewing tied in a lot of the stuff we learned in class with how their family structure is.

Play

I thought last classes lecture was interesting. I enjoyed the idea of play, and what kids dress up in. Im not necessarily sure that what children play to be is an insight into what they want to become as they grow older. I think it might give you an idea as to what there interests may be, but also what they have been exposed to growing up, such as playing that they are a teacher. Overall its just interesting to see what kids come up with!

Death in the Family

A member of my family died this week and I had to make a difficult decision. I really wanted to be with my family in this time of crisis, but I knew I would miss a few of my classes if I went out of town. In the end I decided to go to the funeral and be with my family. Family is the most important thing in this world and missing a few classes is worth being there for my family in this difficult time.

preference vs principle

Last class the Prof was talking about preference vs principle and it really got me thinking. Now, even though I am 18 my mother still tell me what she think I should wear and what to not. I kinda want her to come here and sit in on a class or two. Not to discredit her in any way but some times it seems likes she like to be in control... all the time about everything.

Families with young children

In class on tuesday we talked about how we should encourage children to do their own thing and give them appropriate praise. When giving the child choices and allowing them to do what they want with those choices makes them feel like they are the quote un quote parent like in play. I feel that the more choices that they are given within reason that you set for them, the child will learn to make good choices and want to know what is going on. Another thing mentioned was whether it was a matter of preference or principal. Don't be so rigid and not allowing of their preferences, so don't use principal. If the child doesn't like the ones made that you set aside be willing in some way to negotiate and compromise with the child. Now the other thing that we talked about was giving praise to the child where needed. I work at a daycare and day after day I give praise to those children when they have done something. If a child comes up to me and says "hey I just drew a picture of a dinosaur" I will say nice job it is so good. Or if the children just start picking up the toys and balls in the gym without being asked I will do the same. If when I babysit the children help me clean up after supper I too give them praise for helping. You can tell that the child appreciates being appreciated and loves the praise. I also agree that children need love and affection. If the child has none then what does the child have but negative around them. I hope to also use the five steps to guide behavior also with my family and see if I could try it with the kids at daycare also, to see if it will help with some of the behaviors. I hope to be the authoritative parent and give praise and affection day after day to my child. I feel that if I do give praise and affection and love and all that goes with this type of parenting I will have a very happy life and family.

Parenting

When we were discussing parenting in class and he was talking about preference vs principle it made me think of my parent's and the way they parented my brothers and I. My mom has has to tell my younger brother's teachers over and over to "pick their battles" with him, which I associated with what we talked about in class. She realizes that there are things that just don't matter and when approached end up causing more of an issue than what was originally going on.

Families with Young Children

In class on tuesday when we were talking about play, I found it very interesting. Many people watch children play and try to figure out what role they may grow up to be like. In the summer I babysat two girls at the ages of five and eight. When we would play "house" or something like that I found it interesting that the story always went the way the older girl wanted it to go. The younger one never had a say in whether or not she wanted the story line to go a different way. I think learning about the different parenting styles and learning about families with young children will be really interesting.

Parenting

First of all, I have been checking for my grade on the last test and its not up and and i'm getting very nervous waiting to see what I got. Now for my blog and I am going to talk about parenting that we talked about tuesday in class. I thought i was interesting to learn about how you should teach children. I thought i remembered my parents just telling me what not to do or how to do it but now that i think about it i think they did actually "show" me what i should do. I do know that if i did something bad I did get lectured which you said in class isn't something that will helpo children learn but i think in my case it did help me because i didn't want to get 'lectured' again so i didn't do it again. I always thought it was scary to be lectured so i think that that worked for but if i was a parent i dont' think i would use that just because i don't want to scare my kids out of doing something i would rather teach them.

authoritative

In Tuesday we talked about how kids respond better to praise versus negative responses. I agree with this since I have seen it better hand. I have noticed with both kids that I baby sit and my younger siblings that it is easier to get them to do something when I either ask nicely or praise them about something that they just did. For example it is easier to keep the kids from fighting if I compliment them about something. Like telling them thanks for helping me put away supper or thanks for helping me pick up the living room. I plan on using this technique with my kids...it seems life would be easier that way.

Families with young children

I loved our topic for class today.  It was funny to hear some of the different things people did when they were little and it took me back down memory lane.  I never really thought about how you dress up or what you play with when you are little can kind of define who you will be when you are older, but it is so true.  I ALWAYS played teacher or played something where I was in charge and now here I am in college majoring in Early Childhood Education.  After today's class I will definitely take more interest and watch how kids play or what they play with to learn more about them.

Childhood

It was nice today to talk about the old days of our childhood and think about how we would play with other kids. Its good to think about what games we would play or how we would role play with others. When I was younger I would always play with Barbies and try to act like I was an adult. Those were the good old days of when none of us had the stresses of homework and tests.

Unplanned Pregnancy = Bad Marriage

In one of our classes Mr. Hollist was listing off bad reasons to get married and listed an unplanned pregnancy as one of them. While I agree that sometimes this might be a bad idea I don't think it is in all situations. Maybe the marriage was all ready inevitable but the baby just brought it up earlier. I think there are some people out there that if they are committed enough to a relationship to have sex with their partner in the first place they were probably planning on marrying their partner anyway. if you are just having casual sex or are having sex to early in the relationship getting married as a result of the baby might be a bad idea but therre are many instances when I think that a baby can lead to a happy marriage, despite the popular view.

Test 2 conti.

Ok. So Last week I wrote about the test and me being stressed about it.. I think I it might have been justified. Me and a couple of my friends study for this test for about 2 hours, and I still have questions. My Problems lie with the specifies about Married and inter relationship problems. I got that there is 6 steps for problem but the 4 and 6 step.... is the same. So because of that.. I think I did really bad on the essay.

Test on Tuesday

The test on Tuesday was a little more difficult then I had thought it would be. I have yet to miss a class and i figured by going to class and reading the assignments i wouldbe okay. Apparently i was a little wrong. I studied for the test yet when I was reading over my notes it all sounded very familiar like I knew it all. I was please with the essay question we received though. I thought talking about the most important part of conflict was rather simple. I thought the most important part was resolving it because that is what Dr. Hollist say and in class when we did the chart the happiest couple was the one who resolved everything. Overall i think the test was okay but there were a couple questions that i thought were difficult.

last class

On Tuesday we talked about how in the couple the one with the "I don't care attitude" usually gets their way. That is because the one who doesn't mind what they are doing usually has less intrest in the couple's status. Therefore the one who cares more will do anything and everything to keep their spouce happy. Although I think that is unfair, I do think that it is true.

test

so the test on tuesday..... I didn't find it too difficult. Anyone else? I hope the grades get posted soon. There were a few questions that confused me but other than those few I found the test to be very straightforward. What did everyone else think?

Family Planning and Parenthood

The next class session on family planning and parenthood should be a good lesson for those of us who are wanting to start a family someday. It talked about the importance of family planning and what factors you need to take in when planning it. It talked about timing being important and the effect on a family. For instance when teenage girls or girls who are older are sexually active but they do not want a child, they will be careful in the choices and ways to prevent that from happening. It also stated that people often want to finish their education or get settled in their careers before they decide to start planning and having a family. Now for me that will be what my planning for a family will be centered around for the most part. I want to finish my schooling and then get settled in my career and get off to a good start and then have a steady relationship, get married and all that and then start planning for a family. It also talked about oral contraceptives and how many women take it to avoid pregnancy when they are not quite ready to start a family. There are so many different choices for women these days for contraceptives to take and it is amazing that sometimes they can fail and you can still end up pregnant. It seems to be a win/lose situation now a days with everything. When I finally decide to start having a family I only hope that me and my future spouse are prepared and in a situation that we are ready in all areas needed for the well being of the child.

Family Planning and Parenthood

I think that the next section parents and children will be very interesting. I did like learning about the concepts of being single and dating, but I feel like this will also be helpful to learn. Someday I would like to start a family of my own and I feel like this section will give me a heads up as to what I will be getting into. When reading for class today I thought that the different reason people have children is really neat. Some like to make life more complete, to avoid boredom, or simply to start a family. For me I know that nearly all the members in my family had children to start a family. I feel like this section will be beneficial and entertaining.

Test

I thought the test was kind of hard. I definitely wasn't as prepared for this test as I was for the last test. I hope I did okay on it. I was very happy that we got the 4th essay question. I thought this wasn't as tricky as the rest of the essay questions. I hope the final isn't to bad, I am sure it is going to be here sooner than we all think!!

Test

The test was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I was very happy that we got essay question #4.  After looking at the syllabus, it looks like we are going to begin talking about having children and families with children.  I think this will be a very interesting topic.

Test

I thought the test was very hard. I had difficulty with some of the multiple choice questions. I was glad that we got the #4 essay question because I knew the most about that topic. I felt that I did good on the essay tho.

Kids having kids

I was wondering what everyone thought of the 12 year old and the 14 year old having a baby. After finding out that the father was not the 12 year old boy, he said he was devastated. I just don't quite understand how at that age you could really understand fully about what it would be like to have this happen. The parents of the girl even admitted that they allowed them to have sleep overs and everything because she was using birth control. I'm not sure why but I completely disagree with that. It seems wrong to allow kids at that age to do this. Maybe it is because I come from a really strict family. Any thoughts?

Test

So I've been having some trouble on question #1 for the essays. If anyone could give me any information on this question that would be great. Even if you just point me in the right direction so I can look up the answer. Anything would help!

I think the rest of the information for this next test is actually quite interesting!

Thanks

Test 2

I am kind of worried about this test. I think the last one was easier then this one coming up. Does anymore have any ideas about the essay questions?

Power

I think there definitely needs to be shared power in relationships. You can't always depend on one person to decide everything. And if there's children involved it might be better for one of the parents to decide over the other. It's good to have one person always take initiative but you need to share with your spouse or partner.

public intimacy

As we discussed before spring break some couple have trouble with showing affection to their partners and this does not mean a lack of love. When I was growing up my parents had no problem showing eachother affection, kissing everyday before and after work, plus they were constantly touching eachother; holding hand, arms around waist...etc. I had a good neighbor friend and often went to her house. There, her parents were never on the same couch, didn't touch or kiss or show any affection to one another. As a child I assumed this did not mean love and was very sad for my nieghbor because I thought that her parents did not get along. Now that I am older I understand that everyone shows their love and affection in different ways. My friends have relationships and the same goes for them, some of those couples will be "all over eachother", while others feel uncomfortable around people. I know that affection is not always the best way to measure love.

Power in Relationships

It never occurred to me that the person with the most power in the relationship is the one with the least investment in it but it makes total sense. If you are the person who doesn't care you will do whatever you feel like doing because it's of no consequence to you whether the relationship ends or not. If you are the one with the least power that means you are highly invested in making the relationship work so you let te other person get away with things that in other relationships they probably couldn't. It's very sad and makes me wonder how many of the relationships I am in or the relationships I see are like this where one person cares and the other doesn't so the one who doesn't gets rewarded. It's something to look out for that I never considered before.

one with lesser intrests wins

In class on Tuesday we talked about how we a couple is deciding what to do the spouce with the least amount of intrest usually gets to decide what they do for the night. Like if they are deciding where to go eat or what to do for the night the one who doesn't care gets to decide. That reminds me of my relationship. When my boyfriend asked me what I wanted to eat that night and I just said I don't care or it doesn't matter to me. Usually he keeps asking me what I want to eat and after a few I don't cares or something like that I name something that sounds good and that is what we get to eat.

Sexual Intimacy

Before we went to spring break we talked about sexual intimacy. The thing that really was interesting to me was the top five sexual issues for married couples. I see this every time I am around my aunt and uncle. You can tell very much so that my aunt wants affection from my uncle but is very dissatisfied with the love and affection that she does get. She is always fishing for a kiss or a hug or even a few nice words, and we all see it everyday and it just seems to get worse over time. In my family things are not secret unless you want them to be so as sad as it is I know some of my families intimacy problems. I guess that's what you call a close family. Anyway, I know that my aunt stuggles to find any satisfying feelings in her sex life and has an even harder time getting my uncle to talk about their sex life and having him do anything different. We all see everyday that my uncle is very reluctant to be affectionate at all with my aunt and it crushes us more and more everyday to see that she struggles to feel loved and get any of the help she needs at home. I can only hope to learn from my aunt and hope that it never happens to me.

Power

In class the other day when we were talking about the person who has the least amount of intrest has the most power I found it to be really interesting. This is so true when it comes to relationships. When I was in a relationship, I was always the one that wasn't near as invested as my boyfriend was. He would do anything to keep the relationship together. Although it was sweet sometimes he went over the top and it was clear that I had the most power but I didnt really realize it. By knowing this principle I can use it in my future relationship, or at least know that it exists. I think by knowing this principle of least intrest that people can use it in their relationships and know that it really is true and does have power over the other more invested person.

Differences in Power

One of the most interesting things to me that was mentioned in class, was the idea that in a realtionship, the person with the most power is the one that is least invested. This actually makes a lot of sense, because if you think about if you are the one more invested in the relationship, you are willing to do or say anything to stay in the relationship. I've actually seen many examples of relationships that are like this, and at the time I wondered to myself why they stayed with each other when you could totally tell the person who was more invested in it. Its interesting to think back on these relationships now with this idea.

Power

I thought out class talk on the power in realtionships was very interesting. I never would have thought that the person who cares the least really has the most power in that situation. Now that he explained it to us that makes a lot of sense. I never realized there were so many different types of seeing who has the power. We learned about 6 of them and they all are very different. have witnessed many of these types of power control in my life and now I can understand why these influences lead to who has the most power over the other person in that type of situation. I think it helped that he showed us a movie and had us witness it through that as well. That will help us in other situation to tell the difference between them.

Power in marriages

I found the 6 different influences for power to be very interesting and helpful.  After going through each of those in class I can definitely look at different couples or friends in my life and see why a certain person has more power in the relationship.  By knowing these, I will also be able to allow particular people in my life to take power or stand up and take power myself in different situations.

Fighting

Todays lecture made alot of sense when I started to think about the fights I've had with people. I saw how the different kinds of influences were used in the fight to gain the power. Everyone uses the influences sometime in their life when they fight with others. I learned I need to not get right into the fight yelling at the other person. I need to calmly talk to the person right away.

blog ckoe

I thought our last class was very interesting. Seeing the statistics about sexual intimacy and relationships was interesting. I liked how marriage, divorce, and singles were broken down. I was kind of surprised that the singles category was the lowest because in our society it seems as if people are having casual sex all of the time. Also, I couldn't believe the information about the four fifth graders in LPS that were pregnant. That baffled me, especially since I came from a very small mennonite town. However, I think it has shock value no matter what kind of school you attended.

Spring Break

I really dont have anything to say about our class today. My mind is in a blank. But, I am getting really excited about going to Denver for Spring Break. 

Lucky in Marriage

I think I will be lucky in my marriage (whenever that may be). My parents have been together for 20 some years and they are still madly in love and have never had any serious problems. I kind of feel like there is a correlation between happily married parents and divorced parents and how their children will grow up and have relationships. Like for me, I'm not really afraid of a divorce because if my parents are happy I can be happy. But for people who's parents divorce I feel like those children will have a problem loving and trusting someone. Might just be me. But that's what I think.

communication

On Tuesday we talked about communication. After class I started looking at all the ways that my family and I, my friends and I, and my boyfriend and I communicate. I realized that in my family we mostly just say what we feel while with my friends it is a mixture of talking and gestures. And with my boyfriend it is talking with a few gestures mixed in. Mostly, when I am mad, I speak with gestures because it shows how I am really feeling.

Communication

When discussed in class the different types of communication and such it was very interesting to find out that there were so many different ways to communicate and the negative ways. When we got into basic communication principles it talked about the basics and what is key to it. I too agree that you cannot not communicate, because if you don't communicate then what type of relationship are you going to have with your spouse. Things will just keep going unresolved. I very much agree that the message sent by one person is often not what is recieved by the other person. For instance, I was with a friend eating out one night and we were sitting there talking and eating when a couple of guys came in and sat down to eat as well. So, my friend took it upon herself to start looking at them and flirting hoping I think to get them to notice, and when she got one to look at her she just smiled and kept eye contact. In doing, so this one guy just kept staring and doing the same back. Well at the end of our meal it just so happens that we got done at the same time, and as we were walking out they approached us. My friend got so excited and was all ready to start a conversation when, the guy came up and started talking to ME!! I felt so bad!!! If the guy wanted to talk to me he should have been flirting with me, right? I just don't understand guys. It is true that communication failures rest with both people. If one chooses not to communicate with the other or one tells one one thing and they are to tell another, and they don't then all fails. It may turn into a big fight and unresolved issues. The big thing to remember with communication is that it involves Content and Process. The way something is said is more important than what is said. This may very well be the most important thing to remember when focusing on communication, because the way something is said is much more important then what is said, because it could be your body language and facial expressions don't match what you say.

Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication speaks louder than words. When it comes to someones body language and what they have to say, their nonverbals come across louder. I generally pay more attention to what there nonverbals are saying, and get confused when their words are not matching. This can be a very frustrating thing, and have dealt with this any many relationships that dont make sense to me.

Communication

I thought out class discussion on communication was very interesting. I learned a lot more about the way people communicaton. Mainly the difference between girls and guys. Now that i have learned that i think back on certian situations in my life and it really makes a lot of sense. I remember having a problem in high school with cheerleading and i was talking to my mom and dad about it and i remember my dad telling me to go up to the girl and i was have the problem with and tell her whats up! My mom on the other hand did not think that type of action was necessary. This shows how mails think and how they would handle stuff... even though at the same time i did kind of want to take my dads options. I have really enjoyed listening to a lot of the things that we have talked about recently in class. I feel like they are relating to me a lot.

non-verbal communication

I've been dating my boyfriend for a little over 6 months. He is my first boyfriend and I am definitely learning about all aspects of communication in our relationship. I am often the one upset or angry, so most of the time I will use body language and non-verbal communication. I am slowly learning that I need to be verbal with him if I want to get any feelings across. I will sit next to him and not talk for an hour, not talk back to his conversation, and he will STILL not know that I am mad about something. It really drives me crazy and I could relate well with the class discusion. We talked about how the message sent is often not the message recieved and this happens at least once a week with my boyfriend and I. The discusion really made me think about different ways to communicate with him about my anger and it will take away some stress. When I sit and wait for a response or expect him to know why I'm mad and he doesn't, it makes the situation worse because I don't get the reaction that I want. It is also important to remember that guys and girls communicate differently and my boyfriend and I are still learning about eachother's reactions.

communication

Todays topic I believe was accurate. Whenever I talk to my boyfriend about problems I have he always goes straight for the solution. Instead of just listening to me, he always tries to fix my problems which alot of the times can't be fixed. Sometimes I do wish he could learn to just listen to me and try not to one up me on my problem.

Communication

I loved the topic of class today!  I never really thought about how girls and guys communicate differently, but after learning about it in class, I can definitely relate situations in my life to it.  For example, I always go to my dad when I have a problem because I know he will tell me exactly what to do and get straight to the point.  If I were to go to my mom, she would drag the situation on and discuss all the unnecessary aspects of my problem.  I will without doubt keep these communication differences in mind in future conversations.

Communication

I thought it was very interesting when we were discussing communication in class today. I knew about non-verbal communication but I never really thought about it. When my Dad comes back from work, you can clearly tell whether or not he had a bad day. If he did, he won't say very much, and like we said in class he even will walk differently. I also thought it was neat learning about how girls and guys communicate in different ways. Girls really do tend to take the more "emotional" approach and with guys its more problem and solution. Learning about communication is going to really help me with my family interview and it will also help to explain a lot of the interactions that are taking place within the family.

Class topics

I am really enjoying going to class these last couple of weeks.  I thought the mate selection topic was very interesting.  I didn't realize that people play so many games, and it takes a lot of hard work to find the perfect mate.  I really think this class is going to help me in the future when I decide who I want to date!

Eating at the dinner table.

I was looking around on the internet and found an article that I found interesting. It was about positive ways to raise your children. There were suggestions such as (1) being a parent first, before other demanding tasks, (2)setting good examples (3)learn to listen to your children, and others. The one that I thought was very interesting was to make a big deal about eating together as a family. When I was growing up, the only time we ever ate at the table was during Thanksgiving. We didn’t even eat at the table for other holidays, such as Christmas. It told how it not only is a place for socializing and finding out what’s going on in everyone’s life, but to pass on values and behaviors. I never really thought about how important it was because I never did it. I can see how it can be very important though. Does anyone else wonder if it really matters or not? Since I never really ate with my family, I have no idea how it feels to be on the other side of it.

http://www.bu.edu/sed/caec/files/10tips.htm

Selecting a Mate

I thought our class discussion on selecting was very interesting and probably important and eye opening to many in the class. I found talking about engagment the most interesting to me. I always thought it was about getting prepared for marrage and realize now it is not. I guess in a way it is but the main reason behind it is not get to know eachother better on a different level then what you were at. I assumed they knew eachother that well before the got engaged but apparently not. Another aspect of the lecture i found interesting was the part when we talked about the games. I never thought about the 'little' games everyone plays could be destructive to a relationship. The games can have positive outcomes such as getting to eahother better. I feel like I don't usually do the whole playing games. Yet i will admit I do play the "I don't care" game... i never thought of this as a game but now that it was explained to us i understand it now.

Nothing really to do with the topic

So I couldn't really think of anything to write about so I'm going to write about this....

Back in sixth grade (2001-2002) my best friend was kidnapped and murdered. They never caught the guy and they thought that he might have been involved in 3 other murders of 11 year olds. Time has gone on and they still haven't captured him. The other night I was watching America's Most Wanted and they ran her story again except this time it was different. Actress Pauley Perrette from NCIS has become personally involved in the case. Her family lives in a neighboring town and when she heard about the story it hit her hard. She has put up a huge reward and is doing all she can to aid the investigation.....

this is the link for the youtube clip of the show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDshDS1E8bo

Dating

I think that that lectures in class are getting more and more interesting. I really like that topics and find that I can relate to them as most of my classmates I am assuming. I am looking forward to the talk on marriage. Which I think is today?

Cohabitation

When we learned about cohabitation in the section of dating, it was very intriguing and I found out a lot that I didn't know about. I didn't know there were so many different kinds of cohabitation. I think that now in this century more and more people are typically in the Linus blanket category and the Testing Category. Typically today couples can be so dependent on one another that they would rather be with someone then be alone, because they want the feelings of intimacy, belonging, love, etc. so they will do just about anything to have a relationship even if that means changing themselves or their lives just so they have someone to love. So many people today want a realtionship to either satisfy them emotionally, sexually, financially, etc. they don't realize sometimes how the other person feels or other people involved feelings about the relationship. As for the testing category lots of people are involved in this category today, especially those in their twenties and early thirties. Couples in this cateogry want to live together to see if marriage is right for them, or just right for each other and they can live with the other person and deal with their faults, strengths, weaknessess, etc. One big part of the puzzle is to see if they can see themselves in the others family and deal with all that goes with it. If they can get through the hard times and still be with them in the end, then they can be with them. I think another is they choose those who are most like their mother/father and feel safe and loved. I myself have not cohabitated and don' really plan on it, for one I don't think it is right before marriage and two because my parents don't really like the idea, and they mean a lot to me. I feel that you can spend just as much time together with the person as you would living with them to find out all of this stuff. I plan on making sure they are the person that is not only right for me, but that my family excepts and likes them, because if not then it won't happen.

Dating and Marriage

In class I found the past few lectures that we have had are really interesting. Dating and marriage is something that girls (or at least from what I know) can never learn to much about. I watch the Bachelor and when we started talking about dating, it was the first thing that popped into my mind. Here is a man trying to choose his future wife by dating them and finding out more about them. However the Bachelor does have a very different twist than real life does. Usually girls or guys don't have twenty or more guys or girls trying to get the same husband or wife. But there are so many people that I know who watch the show and it tells me that humans can never learn to much about relationships. In my life right now I'm single and if I do start dating it would most likely be for marriage or something that would last. As I get older, its something that I'm lookin for right now and when the time is right the right someone will be in my life.

Cohabitation

I believe that cohabitation is a very smart idea. It gives you more of a trial bases rather than jumping straight into marriage. I honestly believe that cohabitation can help decrease divorce rates. If you learn that you cant stand the person just cohabitating, then you know that the idea of marriage will never work out. Along with cohabitating, it opens up more communication between people. There is more of an opportunity and you might get a change to discuss things that you may not have even thought of. Cohabitation is a good try out on a relationship.

Dating and Mate selection

I feel these last few chapters on being single and dating and mate selection have been the most interesting so far. They are completely relatable to probably every person in the class. I also watch the Bachelor and it's interesting to see how dating has really evolved in our society. Now things like online dating and shows like the bachelor are not unconventional ways of meeting people. Also, it's interesting the change people go through while dating. I know even just applying it to my own relationship it starts off very casual and then eventually your three years down the road talking about the future.

Dating

I have found the past couple of lectures to be very interesting. Most people in class can relate to these topics. I find the topics about dating and getting married interesting because in a couple of years I will be at an age to get married. We are at a age were most people start to date and try to find their soul mate. Everytime we look for our soul mate, we go through a process of male selection. We have to decide what we like and dislike in a male. Slowly we weed out the good from the bad.

Mate Selection

It is so funny that we are talking about mate selection right now because I am also an avid viewer of The Bachelor.  Everything that was said in class today I related to The Bachelor.  Many of the girls on the show played games with Jason both constructive and destructive.  It is also interesting to see how once there are fewer girls, the games kind of disappear and they start focusing on how they would function as a couple and they become much more intimate.  I am looking forward to learning more about this subject area so I can relate the information to my own life.

Dating

I think that the next few classes will be very interesting. I think that finding your mate can either be complicated or very simple. For some people they click easily and for others it is hard to come out of your shell. Also I think that it will be interesting because my boyfriend and I have been dating for 2 and 1/2 years so it will be interesting to see how we fit into things. Another thing is that I watch The Bachelor and I think that the show will fit well into this section. For one thing it's neat to see how the girls change from the first show to the last ones. It shows how they develop around Jason. I think this section and the show fit perfectly together, especially because of how it ended. Maybe now I can understand why Jason did what he did.

Last class was interesting. But I am really excited for this next class about dating life. Not that I am dating right now, but just to see the differences. Also learning about single life and the stereotype of it was pretty funny, but kinda sad. In my family, that kinda how it is. If you aren't married or dating, what is going on? Is there a problem? It kinda ticks me off. Alot. 

American Beauty

So I had to watch American Beauty for my Psychology class and even though I'd seen parts of it before, I had never watched the whole thing all the way through. If you want to look at bad relationships, watch this movie! It is full of horrible marital relationships and friendships. Thankfully there is one relationship that sort of works out in the end and even though the guy was a total creeper at the beginning, he ends up being one of the most sane people in the movie. He is such a sweetheart and it kind of lightens the load that the end of the movie drops on you. WATCH IT! It's wonderful :)

Tuesday's class on being single

I thought that Tuesday's class was one of the most interesting so far. I've been in a long term relationship since highschool and have never really thought about the way views on being single have changed. I've never thought that being single is a bad thing, but I can understand how when you're main goals were to marry for children and financial stability how everyone felt that it was bad to be single. People would see someone who was single and wonder what was "wrong" with them. Then I got to thinking about some of my friends. I only have one friend who is actually single, and she definitely does not want to be. She goes out with all these different guys and none of the relationships ever seem to last. She says that she likes the guys and spends a lot of time with them, but one after another they all tell her they don't want the "label" of boyfriend and girlfriend. Maybe this is due to the changes in views on remaining single, and so these guys that she starts to see aren't worried about looking bad for not having a girlfriend. I also thought that the chart we looked at on Tuesday was crazy!!

Chart/ Single person

The chart that showed us how many people you have been with if all of your sexual partners have been with the same amount of people as you was pretty scary. I felt that it was in stark contrast from the things in the book. To me the book seemed to point to the direction that the more sex you had the better because it gave you more "varied sexual experiences" and it seemed like the book was representing that in a good light. I also noticed on of my friends in the lecture of people who don't like being single. She feels depressed and like no one will love her and is constantly lowering hwer standards so that she can find someone who will like her. I think the lecture helped me figure out how to talk to her and address her problems so that I could let her know that she was a good person and deserved much better. That perhaps she needs to wait around for the right person instead of actively trying to find him and find herself instead. i think once she is happy with herself she will notice the people who all ready care for her and will be able to find much more because she will believe that she actually deserves it and will be able to see it.

Single life

I just wanted to start off by saying that taking the exam was a releif. It ended up less challenging than I thought it would be. I also enjoyed the essay portion because it gave us a chance to discuss some of the things we have learned in class and also allows us to show that we fully understand some of the material.
Our discussion about single life really made me think. I got to look at both sides, with advantages and disadvantages. I think that in my experience it is good to not be tied down to someone your whole life. You need time alone to find who you are and really get some alone time for yourself to develope into a full person. You do have more control of your life at times when you are single, but I do not think anyone should go thier whole lives without a partner. It is best to test the waters and if you are in a time in your life where you need to be alone than you should have the power to decide that for yourself. I think people today are finding themselves to be more independent, so a lot of people find it easier to be single for longer periods of time. I plan on taking my time with relationships and not rush into anything before making plans for myself... such as finishing school and really finding out what it is I want to do with my life.

single life

I thought the discussion in class on tuesday about single life was very interesting. I also thought it was interesting that alot of our perceptions about single life were really some of the advantages and disadvantages about single life. I did not know that being single could affect your health. When our teacher explained how it made a lot of sense though. I also found it funny when we were talking about the health choices that it really applied to one of the men in our class. Another aspect of this topic in class was getting to know yourself first before getting into a relationship. I never really thought about this and how it would cause such an affect on the relationship and the person. I for one do not think that i change in different relationships. I feel like I act the same way in all of them. I suppose this means that I know who I am and can relate to others through that.

Single life

I really liked our discussion on single life and all the aspects around it. Like many of the others said in the blog, I have really no desire to get married anytime soon. I still have about 2 years left of school, and then student teaching. No where in there would I be able to handle planning or even getting married. I am perfectly happy being who I am and not losing my identity or self to change for someone. Now, when the time comes that it does happen, a relationship, then at that point in time I will really know who I am and what I stand for, and that I won't change. A lot of my cousins though, on my moms side, have gotten married rather young, in their early 20's, and are perfectly happy and have kids. To me though I think they knew who they were and what they wanted and the fact that they dated the person for years. I do think that a lot of people are getting married a lot older now today, compared to years ago. I think that a lot of that has to do with finding a stable life and ground to stand on, whether that be financially, health, job, mental, love for someone else, etc. to be able to be in a realtionship. Those who are waiting might want to make sure all of that is in check, before getting into a realtionship and having these come crashing down while in it. I want to wait a while at least to 25 or so, before I get married for those reasons I mentioned above, but also because of what happened to my brother. He was engaged to a women he had dated for three years, engaged to for one, and had set a date for this summer and had everything planned out, and then she dropped a bomb on all of us and totally blind sighted us. She told my brother she didn't want to marry him and that she had feelings for someone else. All the while before this she started saying she wasn't sure if she was ready, but like the person my brother was, he told her he would wait until she was ready because he loved her that much. So, needless to say it really put a damper on how I look at people and who to date, and trust went out the window. It also made me want to wait and in a sense made me not want to get married for the longest time. So, I hope that I can only learn from that experience and what I learned in class, and make sure I know who I am and what I want first before I take that big step.

Being Single

I thought this weeks class was extremely interesting. Everyone had a different view on wether or not it is good to be single or attached to someone. I really agree with our teacher when he said that it is super important to figure out who you are before you begin a serious relationship. If you can't please yourself, then how are you going to be able to please your partner. I think it is very important in a relationship to not loose your identity. A lot of times when girls get a boyfriend their identity becomes wrapped up in what their boyfriend likes and does. I'm sure I have been like this a time or two, but I really think it is important to stay true to yourself.

Single Life

In class the other day we talked about the many different sterotypes that single people face like loneliness. I personally know a lady who has been single all of her life and she loves it! There is a huge difference about how people percieve being single. Some think of it as the worst thing that could possibly happen in your life and some look at it like a great opportunity. In my family, there has not been anyone that has not married. For me its hard to look at the rest of my life being single because I really havent experienced it any other way. I did like talking about the advantages of being single, because currently thats where I stand. In high school I was in a two year relationship, and didn't really enjoy it. I do feel like I can develop a good sense of myself and learn more about myself by being single. And by knowing that there arent only disadvantages to being single, I can feel more confident about myself.

Single Life

It was interesting to me to talk about single life. Most of my life I've been single, and I agree with a lot of what was said. I think that people who jump from one failed relationship to another need to take time to figure out themselves. Obviously there is a reason that may be occuring, and I believe that if you dont know what makes you happy, then your partner never will. Even in my instance, I have changed so much over the last 5 years, and am now figuring out who I am. If it wasnt for that time of finding myself I would have ended up miserable one day.

Single life

After discussing single life in class today and looking at my family, I think I can definitely relate to the getting married older for love and not economic reasons.  My parents got married when they were juniors in college and they were also each others first serious realtionship.  My parents are constantly asking my brother and I about our relationships and I think secretly pushing us to get married young like they did.  Times have changed because I cannot see myself getting married until I am at least a year out of college.

single life

In class today we talked about single life and all the different aspects of it. And I really started thinking about how my grandparents and even my parents, and aunts and uncles, married young. Yet, all their kids, my siblings, and I are not married. My dad was married by age 25 and my mom by 20. Next year I am turning 20 and I have no need or desire to be married by then. Also I have a few cousins that are in their younger 20's and they also are not married or are ready to be married. I think that it's intresting how marriage has become a thing of emotion and love instead of money, social status, or even security. I also think that that is a good thing.

Single life

During class today I started to realize that it is true how in today's society people get married later on in their life. I am the youngest on both sides of my family. My cousins range from late 20's to early 30's. None of them are married yet but one of them that is 27 is getting married in two weeks. Two other ones are engaged and will be married in the next year. They are all getting married when they are older now and are ready to settle down.

ckoe blog

After reading chapter four I thought it held a lot of really interesting information. The facts about why people stay single and the different types of singles were interesting. I knew that people were getting married at older ages from our discussions in class but I didn't realize that those who are younger and single who may marry are at an advantage compared to those who are older and not married. I just assumed that if they were older and single it was because of a choice.

I'm also axious to see what grade I got on the test. I was kind of confused by some of the questions and was always deciding between two answers!

TEST!

Ok, so Last night I was studying with a couple of my friends and I was getting worried about some of the essay questions. Number 4, I think is going to be the hardest for me. I when over all the notes, and reread some of the book. I hope the test is easy.

My Poor Parents

You know how parents shouldn't have a favorite child? Well that's kind of what happened in my household. My brother was horrible in school, always partied, got an MIP, smokes, moved out for a year and came back home. They want him out of the house and to pick up responsibility for himself. He's trying but the jobs he finds he get's layed off because of cut-backs in the job field. My parents were really sad when I moved out to come here for school. They wished it was my brother and not me. But now that I've changed my mind and I'm going to go to UNO for school next year they are extremely happy. I keep picking up the feeling, though, that they don't want me back in the house (not suprising, look at my brother). I don't know what to make of this, if I should take it how they show it and get an apartment when I move back or stay at home.... who knows...

test today

I have been studying for the test for quite some time and yet i do not feel prepared at all. I feel like a lot of the vocabulary words i might know but i'm sure i will blank when i get to the test and have to fill in the blank... i'm not very good at those. I am really worried for this test. I guess we will know what they will be like after the first one. I have been looking over the essay questions and i think that those shouldn't be too terribly bad. I think that by going to class and listening to the discussions about all of the theories and how to apply them will really help when it comes to the essay questions. I am also hoping that the book questions aren't very hard. I read the book yet i am scared there will be some tricky ones in there that i didn't really catch as i was reading it. Now its time for me to study some more before the test at 2!!

Empty Nest

I totally agreed with what the professor was saying about parents being happy when their children left. i know that a lot of students were shocked and upset by it but to a certain extent I think it is true in every family. I think sometimes kids forget that parents are people too and although they love you they have devoted eighteen years out of their lives to raise you and make life as bearable as possible for you. They just want a break from having to be responsible all the time and having to deal with every little problem you have. I know my parents were ecstatic to see me go. They are in the process of turning my room in to a fitness center and tell me all the time how happy they are because it is so clean now that I am gone. It sounds like they don't care about me except I went to home yesterday just watch t.v. with my mom and when I got home she handed me her credit car, told me to fill up my car, and then gave me a whole new line of face care stuff that she had discovered. then we just watched t.v. for three hours, ate snacks, and talked about our lives. Just because she was happy to see me leave donesn't neccasarily mean that she doesn't love me it just means that she needs her own space so that she can be her own person again. She put in her time with me and now it is time for her to have time to herself.

Empty nest

I thought that Tuesday's class was very interesting. I think that it's kind of weird that parents are happy to see their kids leave. In a way I think that the parents being happy with the kids going out on their own is good because they would get to see their kids grow more, but I also think that it would be hard for them to let go. I am the oldest child of 4 and I hope that my parents were sad to see me leave and will also be sad when my littlest sister leaves for college too. Yet I don't want them devestated either. Also I think what the professor said about kids' attachment to their family grows stronger when they leave the nest is also true. I know that mine has. I call my parents almost everyday, text my sister all the time, and I miss them a lot.

Midlife Myths

I also thought that part of class was very interesting. The one I'm not sure about is the midlife crisis part of the myth. I never really noticed anything changing with my parents, but as far as I knew I thought that it was a very common thing. I thought that nearly everyone went through one, but some people just knew how to handle it better than others. It really suprised me to learn that this isn't the case. It also suprised me to think that parents get excited to have the house back to themselves. I figured that most people would be sad and not know how to handle being alone again.

Myths

I also found our last class very interesting.  I thought alot of parents would be sad after their last child left.  I came to find out that at the end of high school when I was leaving my parents were very excited.   I am the baby of the family and I also have a twin brother.  My mom proceeded to tell me that she was sad there wouldn't be as man people around, but she was super happy because now they can travel whenever and wherever they want.  My parents are very happy and they travel all the time.  So now I know that a lot of the time parents are very excited when their children go off to college.

Myths

So after our last class I found it interesting about common myths. The one that was most interesting to me is the idea that parents really arent so sad after their last child leaves home. To me this is the opposite. My mom always seems to be trying to find new ways to convince me to move back home. So far she has not been completely successful. It will need a really good persuasion before that happens!

Ckoe blog

So I'm quite concerned about the upcoming test. I don't really know how to answer the essay questions very well and there just seems to be an overload of information. I read it and think I know it but then try to quiz myself and feel like it's lost. It will be interesting to see how the first test goes and get a feel of the question format.

Any ideas to help me with the essays?

Children and Marriage

I think that the way children view the world and how things work is very simple. You grow up, nothing really inbetween a young child and an adult. You just go to school then get married and have babies. My mom told me that when my older brother was about three or four he told my mom that she was the most pretty person ever and that he was going to marry her. It is obvious that at that young of an age, my brother did not have a full understanding of marriage and that he viewed my mom as "pretty" and wanted to be her husband. I think this is funny when I think about it, but it also does not suprise me. I am also rarely around younger kids, but I hope that sometime soon I can babysit or work in a day care, talking about how young kids think really makes me want to work with young kids soon!

During this past summer, I babysat two adorable little girls. Both of their personalities are completly different. One was boy crazy and the other wasn't at all. Watching the videos in class the other day really reminded me of the youngest girl who was boy crazy. Every single day she would name off all of the boys that liked her and said that she was going to marry them all. When I told her that most likely wouldn't happen, she looked at me with a big smile and said confidently "Yes it will!" As the older one tried to explain to her why it wouldn't work, she completly ignored her and kept on playing. This isn't the only time I have had an experience like this, but everytime I do it makes me laugh. I love listening to the way children think things will happen and how they are absolutly positive that it won't be any way but their own way. It really made me think about the way that people percive things in different ways at different stages in their life.

Childhood thinking

I thought the Cosby Show video clips were so funny in Tuesday's class.  A little girl I babysit says stuff all the time just like Rudy did in the clip.  She is in first grade and it seems like every time I go over to her house she has a new "boyfriend."  One night when I was putting her to bed she was telling me about her most recent boyfriend.  She explained to me that they both agreed to get married when they were in 5th grade and by the time they were my age (17 at the time) they want to have their first baby.  I asked her where they were going to live and she replied "here" (at her parent's house).  This is clearly an example of how children think so unrealistically about their life when they grow up.

Class Today

Today in class we were talking about how when we are younger we imagine what our lives will be when we get older. Sometimes children imagine themselves getting married and moving far away. Usually their ideas are unrealistic and change throughout the years. When we watched the clip for the Cosby Show, it reminded me of how when I was younger one time my parents asked me who I was going to marry and I said my brother. Obviously that was not realistic and it changed over the years.

Its interesting how some families work, Yesterday my friend got picked up by her parents because she was getting sick and they thought she couldn't drive back to Omaha. Now about two weeks before this, my friend got her belly-button pierced and didn't tell her parents. Then found out when they got to the doctors office. My friend thought they wont be upset because of her sickness. But that didn't happen. They were so upset they were screaming at her all the way back to lincoln..

Unfair...

I find it unfair when parents treat their children differently. My best friend and roommate wasn't sick during high school very often, but whenever she was her parents refused to let her stay home from school. Recently she told me that her parents let her brother stay home the day before because his back hurt. I find this very unfair because she was always really really sick whenever she asked to stay home but she had to go to school. Yet when her brother woke up and said his back hurt her parents let him stay home. Her parents have a very skewed view on family and I really hate them for it. This really bothered me so I thought I should write about it... :/

Body Changes Over the Years

I think it is a little ridiculous how much the "perfect" body image has changed over the years. If you look at the dolls that children play with now and back in our parents day the images of men have gotten increasingly bigger and more muscular and the girls have gotten smaller and more meek. It just shoes how that men are expected to be threatening and in charge while women are supposed to just fade in to the back ground and obey social norms. In magazine ads it is the same as dolls. Women in magazines are usually models that are starving themselves to reach that "perfect" body that the media has told them they need to achieve and the men are usually athletes. The images that people are getting is that it isn't okay to be your own person and that you have to conform to what the media says you need to be. we are always taught to be individuals but are then told what we should be doing as those individuals. Society is sending us contradictory messages and something needs to change.

Single parent families

My aunt and uncle recently got divorced.  I can definitely relate what was said in class about the kids having to do more around the house to their family.  Before they got a divorce, my cousins never had chores and basically were given whatever they wanted.  Then the divorce happened, and within the first month, I already noticed a number of changes.  Without even being told my oldest cousin began doing laundry, they both got jobs, began paying for things themselves and they both just matured a ton from being forced to be so independent.  Another thing I have noticed with their family is how close both my cousins have grown together.  It seems to me like they rely on each other more because there is not always a parent present.  I think they have realized that if they want there family to stay strong, they have to work together to get certain things done around the house.  

Single Parent Homes

I found it very interesting when we were talking about single parent homes on Thursday. I myself have not been in a sinlge parent household therefore I loved learning about it. My household is basically my mom and dad running things together. I can't ask one of them something without the other one making sure it okay on how they answered my question. I can't imagine having just one parent to make all of the desicions themselves or even putting myself as the parent and deciding everything. .I feel like I could do it if i was in the position yet I think I would rather have a husband there to help me out. This is most likely due to the fact that i am custom to the lifestyle of a mom and dad. From our talk in class I thought it sounded almost stressful to be a single parent. Another aspect of raising children on my own would be if i had a boy I would want a man in the house for him to look up to. Not that he couldn't look up to me and see how I handled stress and finance but I would want him to have at least a father figure. I also wouldn't want my children to feel like the have to assume household jobs because I am busy or have other things to do. Of course every parent wants there child to help out but I would be scared they wouldn't feel like they had a childhood.

Single Parent homes

When we were discussing single parent homes in class it really made me look at it truely and see what single parents are really dealing with and I myself, hope it never happens to me. When we learned that 50% of children born in the 80's will at one point live in a single parent home was quite unbelieveable. I couldn't believe that there will be that many children living in a single parent home. It was shocking and really made me wonder what was going on in the home to have it go like this, and what more the child really needed, etc. I just can't believe that this many children and families are seperating and divorcing, it really makes you think about what is going on with this families structure and function and so forth. Now, when I heard that 87% of single parent homes are headed by women it didn't surprise me because you see it all the time. It just makes me upset and sad that the courts sometimes don't think that it is in the better interest of the child to go with the dad, when really it is sometimes, just because he is a male, like we discussed in class. For me sometimes I think the father would be the better parent for the child with some people I know, and you can tell that the children aren't happy with the arrangement.
I have a family member who is a single mom raising three kids on her own and it is very stressful for her and she suffers from emotional distress also. Sometimes it does show when she is around us and at work and how her everday emotions are and her personality has changed a little because of the stress and the emotional and physical drain of it. Her kids have a real hard time following directions and respecting what we tell them, and it shows that they do the same to her. It says "Hey if I can get a way with it from mom, then I bet I can with everyone else". The lack of child support is a definite problem there as well. Her ex-husband is very difficult right now and she is having a hard time getting him to cooperate. He keeps getting new jobs and quiting and so forth and so things keep changing and she gets more and more upset with him and emotionally drained from his antics. I just hope that I never have to deal with this and that as a family we continue to support her and give her the help that she needs to get through this.

Adoption

In my family, we have never adopted. I have no cousins, grandparents, aunts, or uncles that are adopted. I know of a family who has eight children that are adopted which just amazes me. Our families are close and when we see them I always notice how differently they react together and how they have had to adjust to the different personalities and cultures that they all come from. In the future I would like to adopt children because I think it would truely be a great experience. In class it just really got me thinking about it, and even though having a child of a different culture or race would be different, I think it would really open up my families eyes and be a great way to learn how to handle different situations.

Single parent families

Alot of my friends have a single parent family. Most of them have their mom as the person who has full custody of them. In class on Thursday, I realized how much what we were talking about described my friends and their families. Alot of them have more responsibilities than I have in my family and take care of their siblings without their parents making them do that. They help out in their families to make their parents roll a little bit easier for them.

race/ethnicy

After hearing about how our professor has a child of a different race, I thought about what I would do if I was in our professor's position. I believe that I would push my adpted child towards my own, and my spouce's, race. I believe that I would do that because he or she would have grown up in that racial setting. If I would do that, life for him or her would be easier; including his or her job, social life, and other aspects of life. Although this would be difficult for me to decide, I would stand by my decision of raising him or her as though they always belonged to my racial background.

Divorce article

I was going through some old Lincoln Journal Stars and I found an article that interested me. After I read it, I realized that it should have been common sense, but it was just one of those things I'd never really thought about. The article was from January 15th of this year, and was titled "The holidays are over, is it time for a divorce?" The article discussed how a lot of couples who are thinking about getting a divorce, will put it off around Thanksgiving and Christmas, but then do it after the holidays are over. My parents went through a rough spot a couple years ago, and although they did not actually get divorced, I do remember that around the holidays they never mentioned it and seemed to be perfectly happy in their marriage. In February of the next year was a much different story. They barely even talked to each other. Thankfully, my parents were able to work out their differences and stay married, and now they seem to be doing great. It was just odd to me that I never really considered why it all seemed better over the holidays.

Genogram

This genogram assignment though quite confusing is very interesting. I called my parents to get a few dates and it was interesting to realize how distant our families are. My dad didn't really know the dates of his siblings births or when they married their spouses because we have no contact with that side of the family. But it was interesting to see how close my family is even though our relationships with our distant relatives are not strong. It's really showing me different aspects of my family and how we really aren't as messed up as we could be!

I am nervous about this assignment because I am not sure how I am going to clearly show all the relationships and everything else that will need to be included. I'm sure I'll have to do it over and then over again!

Genogram

I've already done my family's genogram on a piece of notebook paper. I find it really interesting because it made my family actually seem smaller than I thought. I just kept it to my first cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, but when we are all together it seems like a lot more people than when I write it down. My family genogram also makes me realize how many divorces we have had in my family, it goes back to all of my grandparents, plus there were a lot of affairs. It makes me think of how my family will grow in the future and what other things will be present.

Genogram

I'm going to have an awesome time with this family genogram. I know some stuff about my extended family, but not a lot and this really gives me a chance to learn about them. There are a lot of adoptions in my family and early pregnancies and lots of remarries. It's going to be a complicated confusing mess of lines and I'm so excited to work on it :).

Genogram

I am kind of excited to start this project. I am a little afraid though about the amount that is going to be on my poster. I know all about my mother's side of the family but nothing about my father's side. I never met my biological father and don't really know anything about him, so I hope that my mother's side with be enough. 

Chapter Three & Barbie

My friend and I read this chapter together and it sparked a lot of conversation among us. It really emphasizes all of the thing that we are talking about in my Women in Popular Culture class as well about how Women's roles in society are considered less important or are given less worth than men's. One thing that we really enjoyed was the small blurb about how girls are expected to play with Barbies and that Barbies represent the ideal of what those little girls should aspire to be when they grow up. We decided to look up barbie. We noted that Barbie when she first came out was 5'9'' and only 110 pounds. She has gotten even worse since then. Her measurements are ridiculous with a bust of 39 a waist of 18 and hips of around 33 inches. There is a 1 in 1000000 chance that someone will actually have the equivalent measurements of a Barbie. However, this is what every little girl is supposed to be striving for. Although Barbie has had some empowering jobs in the past such as Astronaut or Vet. if you go look in a typical target or Walmart you will most likely find her in a ball gown, a swimsuit, or as a baby sitter, an expectant mother, or as a fairy. In fact when Barbie was invented she was supposed to be a fashion model and was labeled by the outfits she wore rather than her occupation or life accomplishments. This doesn't exactly seem like my ideal role model.