To All the Middle Children Out There

 Welcome to week 6 of my official blogging! Before I begin, I want to make a shoutout to my fellow middle children! These past few blog posts have been very research and marriage & family heavy, with spotty references concerning the journey and experiences of middle children. I have since repented, and commit to incorporating my target audience in each of my blogs going forward.  To begin, I want to ask questions to those that are middle children: what are you thoughts and feelings regarding marital adjustments (for those that aren't married)? And for those that are married, what are your thoughts/experiences on the sacrifices and transitions you made in your first year of marriage? And this last questions is for all my middle children: How, if at all, has you upbringing as a middle child affected those thoughts/beliefs? These are the questions I will be answering through the research I examined, and through my own anecdotal experiences.  Firstly, I want to establish ...

This week's blog is gonna be a good one, especially for my single friends! If you're anything like me, the dating world seems overwhelming, confusing, tiring, and intimidating. There has been a big culture shift in the meaning of what dating is and how it looks in our society. A new term has surfaced that has replaced dating in some ways. The younger generation like to call it "hanging out". Heard of it? Let's dive into these topics and explore different ways dating is approached, and which ways are proven to create and maintain celestial, happy marriages.  Let's start with the definition of hanging out and dating. Hanging out is described as a number of young single adults joining together in a group activity. Dating, on the other hand, is pairing off to experience one-on-one association and commitment. See the difference? Dating used to be a huge part of America's culture, and young people would go on casual, fun dates almost every weekend. It was a way ...

Hello friends! Can you believe it's practically half-way through the semester now?! I feel like I just barely started writing these blogs haha, time sure does fly when you're having fun! Today I would like to include my learnings and thoughts regarding a hot topic nowadays: gender. I want to focus mainly on the research behind gender tendencies and roles and why they are important to understand and honor throughout our lives. Feel free to include any of your thoughts in the comments. I am open to any and all opinions as long as they are done with kindness and respect.  I want you first to take a second and think about the word gender. What does it mean to you? Do you believe gender differences, particularly their strengths and tendencies, are needed or are they unfair/controversial? I myself have struggled to understand gender differences, and I have had feelings of exclusion and discrimination from the opposite sex. Through my studying this week, I was able to examine several ...

Welcome back! Congrats on surviving life since my last post! My roommate and I were discussing how this week sorta evaporated in front of our eyes. Haha, I honestly cannot remember what all I did throughout this week. Anyone else feel that?? Anyhow, let's get into it! For this post, I want to discuss social class and familial culture. Specifically, I want to dive into the information I've observed through my studies and experiences, and how to understand, navigate, and change views about classes and cultures.  I read an interesting study this week discussing how immigration influenced Mexican family relationships. In my class we read it in, we participated in a role play where there were different family members. Some of the family members stayed in Mexico, and some of them immigrated to the United States. The number one reason families would immigrate was to provide better opportunities for their kids (education, learning English, variety of careers, etc.). Typically, the fath...

One of the biggest reasons I decided to pursue Marriage & Family Studies is because I want to understand my own family. I want to notice and address the good and not so good patterns going on in my home. I crave the understanding and the courage to make a change. I am someone who naturally looks for problems and issues that need resolution, and I have 100% taken that approach in my family. And confession time: I hold grudges. I am resentful. However, I am aware of my own shortcomings, and I have a desire to release hate and hurt. I want to start moving forward with forgiveness and gentleness. This week's blog will focus on different types of family dynamic theories and why they are important in your progression to healthy relationships. Before we dive in, let's define what a theory is. It is an attempt to explain phenomena. It focuses on the why and how behind something. Without realizing it, we formulate theories in our everyday lives. For example, when someone thinks ...