What I have Learned

I think that my idea of family stress and coping has changed a great deal since the beginning of class. I guess I always assumed that it was bad to include families in stress. However, I learned that it is healthy to include families within the coping part. I think this is a wonderful thing because the while family is going through the same trial, so they can sympathize with one another and try to understand what each person is going through. They can depend and rely on each other to get through the trials. Some of the ideas that I decided to leave behind as a result of this class, is that you are not in control of your emotions. However that is not the case. According to the Cognitive Behavior Theory, if you can change the way you think, you can change the way you feel. If I allow myself to think positively, I can be happier and portray happiness. If I am happy, those around me can also be a lot happier as well.

I believe that the Great Plan of Happiness can be and must be present in families because in an eternal perspective, families are eternal and they are designed to make one another happy. The Great Plan of Happiness incorporates families that care about one another, and strive to work together in Harmony to have the spirit in the home and have eternal life. I am grateful for temple marriages that make that possible. I am so excited that I can be with my family for eternity. To me, that is the Great Plan of Happiness. It makes me so excited that I am able to work with them to make hard things possible. I believe with an eternal perspective, it allows my family to work hard to get through hard things. If we are able to get through those hard times together, we can ultimately be happier because our relationship are stronger. 

"Money, Money, Money, Must be Funny, In a Rich Man's World"

I am grateful for my parent's example they have set for me about finances and budgeting. Because of them, I have been able to get through school without debt and without any student loans. I feel that it is an important lesson to learn from parents. However, I do believe that if parents are going to teach finances, they need to live that lifestyle as well. One thing I will always appreciate about my family is that always taught us the value of money. They taught us important principles and self-control, which I believe is one of the greatest lessons to be taught for budgeting. One of the best ways they taught us was by able to visually see where our money was going, which helped me have a lot of self-control. They did this by teaching us to pay for things in cash because that visual is a way to restrain us from over spending. It helped me at least. I take each paycheck and divide it into different sections of things I need to do. 50% in the bank for savings, 40% for different expenses such as rent, gas, groceries and fun. Then the remaining 10% goes to tithing towards my church. By doing this I am able to stick to that and not go outside the bounds I set for myself. I feel like this criteria I set up for myself taught me that I need to be strict and have self-control in order to have good spending habits.

Parents

In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, it states that "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 and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live." I strongly believe this statement applies to ALL families. Children deserve to be raised in a home with good principles and standards. First of all, I believe that teaching them certain skills can benefit them.
I can remember when I was growing up in my parents home, my parents always taught us to be self sufficient so that when we grow up, we are able to take care of ourselves.  I believe that by doing his they were able to raise us in the best way possible. They did it with love and the goal was to allow us to be law abiding citizens where ever we go. I think that parents have the biggest influence on their children. I hope that when I am a parent, I am able to raise my child with the best interest at heart and following the principles outlined by the Proclamation.