Divorce, Remarriage, and Aging Families

This day and age we have witnessed a strange revolution of family structures and family life. A child is now more likely to grow up in a single parent family or a stepfamily, an adult is in the habit of cohabitation, marriage, divorce, and then remarriage and most mothers are now in the paid labor force. Children today are being forced to merge with other families, and most times it adds contention and frustration. It makes both families struggle.
The divorce rate has skyrocketed since young males and females have had premarital sex. This is why our beloved Prophet and Apostles come up with the Family Proclamation. They made this just for our safety.
We should be willing to spend time with our families as much as possible to ensure that they are important and to strengthen our relationship with them, especially when families are forced to be merged.
In class my professor showed us a cute music video by Brad Paisley called "He didn't have to be" it is perfect for this topic so if you want please check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjO1F6oCab8

It is very important to remember that marriages are not perfect and sometimes we think other wise, it is easy to be caught up in the negatives, but we need to always act upon the promptings of the Lord to always love our spouse and treat them well, even when times get hard. A talk called Falling Out of Love and Climbing back in, is about a women who had fallen out of love with her husband and did not now what to do, she said that they would always leave the house in bad arguments or she would always end up crying herself to sleep. She decided that she had two options she could either stay and be miserable or get a divorce. So she got down on her knees and pleaded to god to help her understand what she would do. As she was trying to fall back in love with her husband she said "The key to fixing my marriage was to learn to see my husband as the Savior saw him." I think this is how we need to see our spouses and loved ones. It is hard to love everyone always, but the Lord is on our side and wants us to succeed.

Parenting

Let me ask you a simple question, what is the purpose of parenting? Brother Williams our teacher asked us this very question in class. Each student had unique responses, for example one student said, to teach our children right from wrong, or to develop parenting attributes. These are all great answers and I was very pleased to hear what other classmates had to say.

A man by the name of Michael Popkins said "The purpose of parenting is to protect and prepare a child to survive and thrive in a world they will live in" I think this is a great quote to talk about, he says to teach children not only to survive but also to thrive. That is very impressive to me, in the Family Proclamation it also states "Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love one and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live." Children have needs and that is what we need to do as parent. The proclamation is a wonderful source of guidance when children come into the picture. 

Michael Popkins then gives us 5 basic qualities we can do to meet our childrens needs:

1.  Courge
2. Self- Esteem 
3. Responsibility 
4. Cooperation 
5. Respect  

These qualities are very important when we are trying to teach our children from right and wrong. As we teach out children this essential characteristics, we need to develop them ourselves first so that we can teach by example. I strongly believe that we are each given the opportunity to eventually have children. I am so grateful for the power of procreation and chance we get to receive such wonderful gifts from heaven.