Parenting- Styles and Benefits

Last week in Family Relations we learned about parenting and why we parent how we do in the United States and in our church. We also discussed the benefits of good parenting for parents and children. Some of these benefits include understanding God and the Plan, practicing Christlike attributes, preparing/socializing kids for life, bonding and defining the family, etc. We talked about the three parenting styles including authoritative, authoritarian, and passive. Authoritative is the most successful type of parenting that involves listening and correcting for the benefit of the children with no alterior motives. Authoritarian includes some of the same characteristics of authoritative but is more of a dictatorship with the intention to have power and control. Passive consists of little correction and discipline where the parent acts more as a friend than a loving, disciplinary guardian.

Work and Family

Last week in Family Relations we discussed the history of work and the benefits it can provide the family. Work has existed since the time of Adam and Eve and its form has evolved since, but the necessity for it has not. Even though society has developed the warped idea that work is a bad thing, we know from scripture that work is important and even a commandment from God. We are to work by "the sweat of our brow" and "for our sake." After the Industrial Age, working conditions changed and the family was re-shaped. Home life became less important when compared to a career. A few interesting points made in class were that there is much more providing that needs to be done than only financial. According to Brother Williams, "Work used to be about life and now life is about work." This demonstrates the idea that people used to work to meet their needs and now one of their main needs is work, it encompasses their lives. Brother Williams also said that many people give up what they think they're working for. This is so true, I've seen some parents work so hard, thinking they're doing it for their kids. But by the time they realize all their kids really wanted was some parental love and attention, they're grown and years of irreplaceable opportunities have passed. It's important to discover a healthy balance of work and to devote just the right amount of attention to it. We realize that work is a good thing, but too much of it is not. As the saying goes, "Work hard, play hard." We should take advantage of all God has given us and not focus too much energy on only one aspect of life while neglecting the others.

Family Communication

This last week in Family Relations we learned about family communication. We learned of the importance of it, how it works, some of the consequences that can come about when proper and effective communication is not executed, and techniques to improve family communication. The process of communication includes thoughts and feelings being created, encoded, transferred through some form of media, decoded, and developed into thoughts and feelings in another person. Communication between people, and specifically between family members in this case, is not always necessarily verbal. According to the statistics, non-verbal communication accounts for eighty percent of our daily communication. And even when the communication taking place does contain words, the tone rather than the content of what is spoken makes a stronger impact. Many divorces in our world occur due to lack of or improper communication between spouses. We should take communication very seriously and handle challenging situations with care. A few tips for effective communication include focusing on only the present issue at hand, being honest, open and sincere, listening, refraining from sarcasm, being cautious with word choice, etc. It would be wise to remember a statement made by Brother Williams, "When you make a decision, the impact of how you made the decision is more important than the decision itself." It would also do us good to keep in mind that when we are angry we disqualify ourselves from the presence of the spirit and the revelation, inspiration, and guidance that its company offers. Because of this we can conclude that positive, uplifting communication allows for greater insight and is therefore, far more effective.