Dear Future Family,

Dear Future Family, This week in class, a topic was brought up that I found very enlightening. It was the topic of the blended family. I am not in a blended family, however, many of my friends and extended family are. I can see how this has effected many of my loved ones and something that, although I have not experienced first hand, is a familiar concept to me. Something that caught my attention was mentioned was the fact that the birth parent should be the one to do all of the “heavy duty” disciplining and the step parents should be the “fantastic aunt or uncle.” I think that this is brilliant because it causes far less conflict. Now, that’s not to say that the step parent should just let kids walk all over them. It also doesn’t mean that if there is a serious issue brought to the by one of the children that they should keep it secret from the birth parent. It simply allows the birth parent to know that their spouse will be helpful but not too tough on their children while the c...

Dear Future Family,       Parenting, I have heard many times, is not something that you can prepare for. Even if you try, you will soon realize how little your preparation has helped. Although I am not a parent, I do not agree 100% with these ideas. I agree that you will not be 100% prepared to parent and no amount of preparation before hand will make you the perfect parent when the time comes. Having said this, I also don’t believe that it is useless to prepare before hand and I believe there can be some wonderful benefits to pre-parenting preparation. One of the biggest challenges, I feel, that parents face with their children, especially their teenagers, is communication. When disciplining a child, it can be so difficult to do so without becoming angry or frustrated. However, when disciplined with love, you can create some wonderful opportunities to connect with your children and grow closer together. There are several ways that one can reach the po...

Dear Future Family, “A young woman’s education should prepare her for more than the responsibilities of motherhood. It should prepare her for the entire period of her life. ” – Dallin H. Oaks While I believe that a woman’s primary responsibility is to her family in the home, I also believe that education is an important tool that she can use to be a greater blessing to her husband, her children, her community, and the world. There is so much wonderful knowledge that can be gained by attending a university in which principles are taught that can be useful in many aspects in life. It is also a wonderful opportunity for one to gain social skills that will not only help the individual, but their children as well as others that they may have the opportunity to interact with. I am currently attending Brigham Young University-Idaho. It has been a truly incredible experience. I cannot imagine that I would be where I am now without the learning and experiences I have gained by attendin...

6/24/17 Dear Future Family,             Conflict is unavoidable. Everyone is faced with it every day. It doesn’t necessarily have to be catastrophic or major to have an effect on the way we interact with those around us, especially with those closest to us. The interesting thing is, when it comes to conflict, too often when we choose to react poorly to it, we allow our anger or frustration to be taken out on our loved ones. Our homes, a place where we should be able to feel safe and be able to take refuge, is, unfortunately, can easily be turned into a place where people attack one another and justify being unkind.             There are several solutions to such an issue, but I would like to focus on one in particular. Elder Russell M. Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said, “ A family council, when ...

6/17/17 Dear Future Family,             When you think of the word crisis, what do you think of? At the beginning of this week, I would have probably said something very similar to how google defines it: “a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.” This is correct. However, with a little change in perspective, it could mean much more.             In class this week, I learned that the Chinese character for crisis is: 危机 . When translated, these characters stand for danger and opportunity. So, if we take the first definition, it does include danger, but the beauty of the Chinese translation is its inclusion of the word opportunity. This changes the word crisis from one that can seem unpleasant and daunting to one that is more tangible and hopeful.             Just think about it using this scenario for a minut...

06/17/17 Dear Future Family,             A couple of weeks ago, in my Family Relations class, we were talking about transitions in marriage. This is a topic that interested me greatly because I have recently become engaged and was curious to see what my fiancé and I may experience or have experienced already as we make this great commitment to one another. At first, we talked about the obvious ones like closet space, cleanliness, traditions, new-found quirks and other things that just come with living with someone. However, as we got deeper into our discussion, there was one thing that was brought up that I had not anticipated or that had even really crossed my mind. Boundaries.                       Now, these aren’t boundaries between husband and wife, although there are some of those as well. What really caught my attentio...

6/11/17 Dear Future Family,             Something that is very fascinating to me is the fact that today our society makes it seem like love, acceptance and happiness are found by living the way that the world teaches us to live. In reality, if we follow the way of the world, it cannot provide us with true love, complete acceptance or never-ending happiness. That kind of fulfillment can only be found in its fullness by living the way that Jesus Christ lived.             This week’s topic is one that can be complex and sensitive. There are many aspects of one’s life, as well as the lives of those around them, that can be impacted greatly by it and that, unfortunately, is misunderstood and mistreated today. I would like to focus, however, on one particular idea that I have found very valuable in my own life and that I have seen change the lives of others.   ...

            05/27/17 Dear Future Family,             I am one of those girls who, since I was little, wondered who I would marry some day. Who was the prince that all of the princesses find at some point in their story? I was spoiled and picky in the sense that I had my dad to look up to as the male role model in my life. My dad is my hero, so when I got older and started dating, I compared every guy to my dad. I had set certain standards for myself, which made it very difficult to be impressed by most guys that I knew growing up. That isn’t to say that I didn’t think they were good enough, because I had mostly guy friends growing up, whom I admired greatly, but they were not what I was looking for in a future spouse. When I graduated from high school up until my mission I was in a couple of serious relationships that taught me a lot more about myself and what I wanted. When I went on a church miss...

Dear Future Family,             This week I want to talk about a subject that is very sensitive and controversial. It is something that is very personal to me and that I have thought a great deal about my entire life. This subject is that of same-sex attraction. Growing up in my hometown, I had many friends and some family that identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. This is something that I did not support and that did not match my values or beliefs, however, those who did choose to identify themselves in that way were still my friends and family. It did not change the way that I viewed them as people. I still loved them very much and cared about my relationship with them. I still do. I want to focus today on another question that was brought up in my Family Relations class this week. That question is: “How might we best understand and support those who struggle with same-gender attraction?”  ...

04/29/17 Dear Future Family,           In a world full of conflict and controversy, it is nice to have some direction that can clear up some misconceptions that society would have us take in as truth. I would like to focus on one particular argument that has been around for years and I imagine will only become more popular as time goes on. This is a topic that is very close to me and that I take very seriously, but I understand that my views on it may not be parallel to what some may feel to be correct. Because of this, I will do my best to be sensitive and respectful of those who may feel differently.           I love this quote from President Brigham Young. He said, “There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty?—To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked,...

Dear Future Family, Every family is different. We all come from different cultures and backgrounds, which makes each family unique. As children grow up and start to have their own families, they often begin to follow similar patterns that their parents set. Sometimes, if a child is conscious of some of these patterns early on, they don’t want to continue them in their own families, so they will try to change them. In the end, every family is a system. Everyone in the system affects one another, whether they realize it or not. Some of the ripple effects that are caused in the system are good and some are not so good. It is important to recognize what kind of system you want your family to be, so that you can prepare early on to create it by either keeping things that have formed positive experiences in your own life, adding things that you liked from other people’s families or perhaps eliminating things that you did not find as effective in your own family. Some things that I rea...

Dear Future Family,           In a world full of conflict and controversy, it is nice to have some direction that can clear up some misconceptions that society would have us take in as truth. I would like to focus on one particular argument that has been around for years and I imagine will only become more popular as time goes on. This is a topic that is very close to me and that I take very seriously, but I understand that my views on it may not be parallel to what some may feel to be correct. Because of this, I will do my best to be sensitive and respectful of those who may feel differently.           I love this quote from President Brigham Young. He said, “There are multitudes of pure and holy spirits waiting to take tabernacles, now what is our duty?—To prepare tabernacles for them; to take a course that will not tend to drive those spirits into the families of the wicked, where they w...