Family Culture
Hello all! It’s been another busy week! I hope you’re all doing well.
This week in Family Relations we discussed family culture. Oftentimes we don’t realize our family has a culture until we see a family with a culture very different from ours (this goes back to unspoken rules). My professor Brother Williams said, “When people talk about culture, they think of skin tone and language, but there’s more to it than that.” There can be many cultures within a culture as well.
One thing that heavily influences culture is the amount of resources a family has. We discussed how some families with a lot of resources may have to work just as hard to have a healthy family dynamic as people with very little resources. It’s easy to drift apart because of work or a lack of time, whether you have lots of money or you’re just scraping by.
Another topic we discussed was how family cultures are perpetuated. Traditions can have a huge impact on a family and the culture. These are often passed down from generation to generation. Other times, when families get stuck in difficulty, the children growing up in that situation don’t know any better. Though they long for a life that’s free from worry, they can end up in the same life their parents raised them in. We sometimes put up mental barriers in our minds and tell ourselves that we deserve only what’s in front of us. We don’t realize that with we are living far below our potential, like the story Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared in an April 2011 conference talk titled, “Your Potential, Your Privilege.” In the talk he describes a man who saved every penny he could to board a cruise ship and see the beauties of the world. He brought with him meager supplies of food and spent most of the cruise in his cabin, dreaming of living a life of luxury like the other passengers on the cruise. “On the last day of the cruise, a crew member asked him which of the farewell parties he would be attending,” Elder Uchtdorf shares. “It was then that the man learned that not only the farewell party but almost everything on board the cruise ship--the food, the entertainment, all the activities--had been included in the price of his ticket. Too late the man realized that he had been living far beneath his privileges.”
One way we can make sure we are living up to our potential and within our privileges is becoming educated on other family cultures and deciding what we want in our future families. This means we need to keep our eyes open to what others can teach us, what we like in our own families and what we can see needs improving.
We also need to be aware of the habits we have now and how these will effect our future families. The biggest reason why I chose Marriage and Family Studies as my major is because I feel I need as much help and education I can get before I have a family. I’m being deliberate in my preparation and hoping that what I learn can help myself, my present and future family members, and those I come across in my life. I rely on the Savior to lift me to where I need to be, to guide me to those who need my service, and to open my mind to the things I need to improve. I know I’m weak, but I’m enough in His eyes. As long as I keep moving forward and take the small moments to be happy, everything will be okay.
That’s it for this week! I’ve already learned so much in these first few weeks of the semester and I’m so excited to share these things every week! See ya next time!
—Audrey Kaydrey
This week in Family Relations we discussed family culture. Oftentimes we don’t realize our family has a culture until we see a family with a culture very different from ours (this goes back to unspoken rules). My professor Brother Williams said, “When people talk about culture, they think of skin tone and language, but there’s more to it than that.” There can be many cultures within a culture as well.
One thing that heavily influences culture is the amount of resources a family has. We discussed how some families with a lot of resources may have to work just as hard to have a healthy family dynamic as people with very little resources. It’s easy to drift apart because of work or a lack of time, whether you have lots of money or you’re just scraping by.
Another topic we discussed was how family cultures are perpetuated. Traditions can have a huge impact on a family and the culture. These are often passed down from generation to generation. Other times, when families get stuck in difficulty, the children growing up in that situation don’t know any better. Though they long for a life that’s free from worry, they can end up in the same life their parents raised them in. We sometimes put up mental barriers in our minds and tell ourselves that we deserve only what’s in front of us. We don’t realize that with we are living far below our potential, like the story Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf shared in an April 2011 conference talk titled, “Your Potential, Your Privilege.” In the talk he describes a man who saved every penny he could to board a cruise ship and see the beauties of the world. He brought with him meager supplies of food and spent most of the cruise in his cabin, dreaming of living a life of luxury like the other passengers on the cruise. “On the last day of the cruise, a crew member asked him which of the farewell parties he would be attending,” Elder Uchtdorf shares. “It was then that the man learned that not only the farewell party but almost everything on board the cruise ship--the food, the entertainment, all the activities--had been included in the price of his ticket. Too late the man realized that he had been living far beneath his privileges.”
One way we can make sure we are living up to our potential and within our privileges is becoming educated on other family cultures and deciding what we want in our future families. This means we need to keep our eyes open to what others can teach us, what we like in our own families and what we can see needs improving.
We also need to be aware of the habits we have now and how these will effect our future families. The biggest reason why I chose Marriage and Family Studies as my major is because I feel I need as much help and education I can get before I have a family. I’m being deliberate in my preparation and hoping that what I learn can help myself, my present and future family members, and those I come across in my life. I rely on the Savior to lift me to where I need to be, to guide me to those who need my service, and to open my mind to the things I need to improve. I know I’m weak, but I’m enough in His eyes. As long as I keep moving forward and take the small moments to be happy, everything will be okay.
That’s it for this week! I’ve already learned so much in these first few weeks of the semester and I’m so excited to share these things every week! See ya next time!
—Audrey Kaydrey
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