Culture- The beliefs, customs, arts, ect., of a particular society, group or time; a particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life; a way of thinking, behaving or working that exists in a place or organization. 

Families all over the world are structured completely different. Not one family is the same. Every family is made up of different people and most definitely different personalities. In class this week we talked about family structure theories. This is something that I found really interesting. There were four theories that we specifically went over in class. We had the Systems Theory, Exchange Theory, Symbolic Interaction Theory, and the Conflict Theory. As we went over each of them in class, I realized that my family seemed to relate to each of these theories in some way. However, the one that related to my family the most was the Systems Theory. Basically this theory means that in each family, every individual plays a specific role. As a result, the family as a whole works best when the roles are played properly. I have noticed this a lot in my family. As a teenager in High School, my mother and I used to fight a lot. Yes this is very typical, but I felt like my mom and I used to fight way too much. At least more than I would have liked. I was close minded and so was she. My junior year however, everything changed between us. My mom has always had back troubles. One day she threw out her back so badly that she was bed ridden for about two weeks. At this time I was the one who was home the most. My dad was at work during the day, my oldest brother was serving his mission, my older sister was up at school, and then my little sister was wrapped up in her little 6th grade world. Because of this I was able to serve my mom. I cooked dinner, I kept the house clean, I brought her medicine, icepacks and gave her back massages. As a result we were both humbled and began to remember what a mother/daughter relationship should be like. After this I began to trust her and confide in her like a daughter should with her mother. I loved her unconditionally as a daughter should and vice versa. By letting myself slip back into my role as being a more accepting, forgiving and loyal daughter, my mom also went back to her tender loving, supportive motherly ways. When the family is playing their roles properly, the family will together best. My mom is now my best friend and I'm sad there was a time when I didn't feel that way. But through our differences, I have learned to love her for who she is and she loves me for who I am. 

     Guys, it's my first official blog! So this week has definitely been a very interesting one. I am really loving this Family Relations class. Aside from the fact that Brother Williams reminds me of Martin Short, which is awesome, he really knows how to get discussions running in class. This past week we talked about the trends that have been seen, like:
Cohabitation (has gone up)
Marriage Age (has gone up)
Living Alone (has gone up)
Premarital Sex (has gone up)
Unwed Mothers (has gone up)
Birth Rates (has done down)
Divorce Rate (has gone up)
     From here, we did a class vote. For each trend we voted if we thought it was significant, interesting or incidental (not a big deal). It was really surprising to see what trends my classmates deemed as significant, interesting or incidental. One of the trends that really got to me was the decrease in birth rates. It is odd that cohabitation, living alone, unwed mother and premarital sex have all gone up BUT the birthrate has gone down. I think that most of these trends are all linked together in someway. I met a girl who was convinced that she never wanted to have kids. She was a member of the church and a super sweet, awesome girl; she just never saw herself having children of her own. This friend of mine, who's parents are divorced, has a pretty much nonexistent relationship with her father. Her life she has grown up seeing the effects of divorce take a toll on her own life. As a result, I believe that this has made the idea of having children become very unappealing. Can you blame her? No. She's grown up with pretty much no father, a mother who has remarried several times and has had to take care of her own siblings. What happened to the popular saying we all used to say as kids? 
"First comes love, THEN comes marriage, THEN comes a baby in a baby carriage."

Families are so important and crucial to the development of our lives. I think that some people underestimate the impact that families have on our personal lives, society, the economy and the overall success of our country. I love my family and despite the many imperfections that we have and stumble upon, I know that one day we will be perfected through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And this will enable us to be together as a family for eternity. Everyday I am so unbelievably thankful that I have the opportunity to be with my family forever. Heavenly Father has given us the ability to be with our best friends forever, and I am a firm believer that we should all take advantage of that. I love that families can have to potential to start a chain reaction and change the world. Basically, I love families. Please enjoy my blog!