Girls v. Boys, Female v. Male

This week has been a fascinating learning experience! Have you ever thought about the gender differences between girls and boys and how those start at a young age? There are been studies that have shown that it is just a genetic makeup that girls are drawn to typical girl toys such as dolls, babies, and anything pink. Little boys enjoy typical little boy things such as cars and trucks. Manufacturers have tried to package toys in similar packages without gender identifying (or stereotypical) colors. They try this because they would be making twice as much money if they could sell a Barbie to a boy and a race car to a girl, but they do not have the same success. The girls still go for the baby dolls and the boys go for the trucks. You can also give a child the same toy and they are going to treat them different. Give a Barbie to a little girl and she will think she is beautiful and cuddle and snuggle with her. Give a Barbie to a little boy and he will bend her in half and use her as a gun.

Also, girls tend to be more nurturing and caring, while boys like to fight and play a little bit rougher.

I totally saw this between my two youngest siblings. My little brother is the only little boy amongst four sisters. Since he was a little boy, he has always been completely fascinated my race cars. (He still is.) My little sister has always been fascinated with dolls. If the environment really could influence how raising a girl and boy would be the same, would you not think that my little brother would enjoy tea parties and playing with barbies more? Think again! He would way rather make a race track out of our colored pencils all over the living room floor and have a race rather than sit at a table and drink with his pinkies up. He also would randomly get up and try tackling any one of my sisters and wrestle. He did not learn that from us. That was built into him.

I also remember one occasion where my parents asked me to babysit and so we tried to compromise between the two of them and play a girl and a boy game. I had him play barbies with his little sister and after a while, he was no longer playing barbies. He had turned the barbies into airplanes and rocket ships and would throw them from the couch across the room. He laughed and giggled and our little sister went right along with it. It is in their nature!

The kiddos and I

There are exceptions to this, of course. In one out of every 10,000 pregnancies a genetic defect causes female babies to be accidentally exposed to a bath of the male hormone androgen. They are called CAH babies, which stands for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. They are born female, but have interests stereotypically related to males, such as cutting wood, fixing cars, and hunting. These women usually still want to be mothers and have children, but they will also enjoy stereotypical male activities.

Another difference between males and females that I found very fascinating is that males give cardinal directions and females take directions given my landmarks. When I learned this it clicked in my brain and totally made sense! When I was a little girl and we would travel to see my grandparents I would always ask my father how far away we are and he would tell me how many miles away we were. This never made sense to me. I always wanted to know how many hours or minutes away we were. On the other hand, my mother would tell me how many hours away we were.

A better example of this might be that I would ask my dad how to get to a certain place and he would tell me to drive 30 miles down the highway, then take a left and drive another 10 miles, then take a right and drive another 5 miles and I would reach my destination. When I would ask my mother how to get to the same place she would tell me to drive down the highway until I saw the blue, two story house with the white picket fence on my right, then I would turn left and drive until I saw the big wagon wheel arch to my left and turn right, then keep going down the road until I saw two big aluminum bins and a red barn to my left and turn into that driveway and I would reach my destination. For me, it always was easier and made more sense when my mother described physical landmarks and I would end up not having to call them for help.

My parents ( who are pretty much the coolest)

This is just a tidbit of the differences between a male and female. If you would like to know more, follow my blog and let me know in the comments what you think!

Let's Talk About Social Class and Culture

Families are influenced by the people we associate with. Sometimes that can depend on the social class. A social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status. People in different social classes can be completely different and they can be very much alike. Some are snobby, and others are down to earth. So, what makes up a social class?

Some aspects that make up a social class include location, occupation or vocation, income, connections, manner of speech, vocabulary used, material possessions, education (sometimes what and sometimes where), family of origin, and sometimes even race is taken into account.

There is a show called People Like Us and, in these episodes, you can see the differences in social classes. There are different factors that play into a person’s social class.

Are you happy with your social class? If you were born in poverty then there are three things that a person can do to have a higher chance of getting out of poverty:

1. Finish high school
2. Get married
3. Don't have kids until you are married

As well as being part of a social class, we all have culture as well. Sometimes I feel like I have a lack of culture, but I know that I still have a culture. Culture consists of customs of a particular nation, people or social class.

While raising a family there are parts of our culture from being raised ourselves that we can keep alive, and others we may want to leave behind. Some people grow up in an abusive culture, a culture with no love whether it be by physical affection or words of affirmation, or a culture where their parents paid absolutely no attention to them. The beautiful thing about life is that as we grow up, get married, and start raising our own families we can decide which aspects of our culture we want to keep and which we want to get rid of.

When we can reflect and see how affective the manner in which we were raised then we can implement that into our own family life. I love how I was raised and hope that I will be able to raise my family is the same manner. I was raised in a culture of love, respect, honesty, integrity, and virtue. My parents raised me to know who I am and what I stand for. I grew up in a culture of family dinners and going to support each other in every activity we did. I grew up in a culture where we went to church every Sunday, we read the scriptures every night as a family, and we prayed together as a family and individually every morning and every night. I grew up in a culture where we did not talk back to our mother or father or else, we received negative consequences. Being raised in this manner helped me see people as people and not as objects, and I also learned how unimportant money is.

I loved being raised in this manner. Others are not as fortunate, but they can change it. Some people worry that they will not be good parents because they did not have good parents. I think it is important to keep in mind that people can look at their parents’ example in a positive and negative way. If you were raised by parents you admired then you will know how to follow their patterns and use their methods, if you were raised by parents you despise then you can also see how they raised you and know what patterns to avoid. There is always hope!

So, what do you think? Do you think social classes benefit society? What kind of culture did you grow up in? Please leave your comments below! J

Four Theories That Explain Family Relations Phenomena

            There are four different types of theories that explain family relations phenomena. What is a phenomenon? A phenomenon is something observable we can see happening. We have the conflict theory, the system theory, and the exchange theory.

            First, we will discuss the conflict theory. The conflict theory deals with those who are in power that want to stay in power. The definition of power is being able to influence. There is an assumption that men have the power in a relationship. That is not always accurate. With conflict there usually ends up being someone with the upper hand and starts pounding on the other person. We can see this among social classes. Those in a higher social class might have more of an advantage because they have more resources. Something that is interesting when looking at this theory is that it is not natural for two people to come together and work together to come to a solution that works for them both, so when this happens it is truly a miracle. Can you think of a time when you were able to come to a conclusion in a debate with someone and you both were able to reach a solution that worked for the both of you? Please share it below!

            An example of conflict theory is when a man makes more money than his wife and she want, to spend money on something. It can be as simple as groceries, and he says that she cannot do that even though they have a joint banking account. They have decided that they will have one account and instead of having a “us, we, and ours” mentality he has a “me, my, and mine” mentality. Therefore, instead of her being able to use those finances that he has made to support his family and her buying things to support the family (like food, bills, diapers, and whatever a family may need to survive) she has to ask his permission to buy those things. Instead of him seeing her as an equal, he is using the conflict theory and exercising power over her.

            System theory is another explanation of a family phenomenon. The system theory includes rules that influence each other. These are usually unspoken rules. Through observation and experience you learn those unspoken rules. You can also see the roles and expectations that come. For example, girls are typically seen as the ones to play with Barbies, Polly Pockets, watch princess movies, while boys’ roles typically consist of thinking boogers, bugs, and spiders are cool.

            I have found that my role in the family is to be the peacemaker. My teacher asked, “How did you get there?” When he initially asked, I wanted to say because I was naturally put there. It’s like the role fell upon me. Many people who are also the peacemaker in their families felt this way as well. As I pondered more, I realized that it also includes observation and experience. Having been a peacemaker once, little by little I get more experience and get to be the peacemaker more. This can be as simple as solving a problem between my little brother and sister. My sister will want to watch Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse and my brother will want to watch PJ Masks and will start arguing about it so then I can step in and we can settle on either watching Zig and Sharko, or taking turns and they each can watch an episode of the show they want to watch.

            Then we have the exchange theory. This is also known as the “you owe me” theory. This is not seen as equality but as if I give you something then you will give me something. Sadly, this theory gathers more proof when we look at the divorce rate. Many people help us see this theory when they have the mentality of “If I’m getting plenty of the stuff I like and not having to pay so much then I’ll keep this relationship going.” An example of this might be if my roommate doesn’t want to date a guy anymore because she is putting more time and effort into their relationship that he does.

            Finally, we have the symbolic interaction theory. This theory views humans primarily as cognitive creatures who are influenced and shaped by their interaction experiences. An example of this would be an interaction between people almost with an alternative motive. For example, if a guy comes over to a girl’s apartment and sticks around he might really be there because he likes her and wants to ask her out. He will grow closer to her and want to be her friend, but also for that relationship to grow into something more. She starts flipping her hair, offering him food, and laughing at all his stupid jokes. Based on their interactions he will be encouraged to ask her out on a date.

            There are many types of theories and they can be very interesting. Maybe while reading this you have thought of an experience that you have had that might explain one of these theories. Please share it below!

New Economic Reality: Demographic Winter

There are many misconceptions on what a family is and the effects that having a big family can have on the world. Many people believe that having children will be bad for the economy.

After World War II many people were very excited and happy to have two wars over with, and the whole world experienced something that is now referred to as the Baby Boom. That is, all except Japan. The Baby Boom is when births exceeded two percent of the total population within 18 years. There were 77.3 million babies born in the United States of America and 450 million born worldwide. That's a lot of babies! 😮

There was such an incline in population that people began to think that we now have an overpopulation. Paul R. Ehrlich wrote a book called The Population Bomb that argued that there would be an increase in population that would negatively effect society.

                                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Population_Bomb

This book has contributed to the misconception of overpopulation, but it is not really happening. Many people, especially in European countries, believe that the earth will be overpopulated. That is one reason that so many families just want to have one or two children. Having three children seems absurd. Some countries have even made laws against having a lot of children. They look at it as economically intelligent. In truth, having a lot of children does not have a negative impact on society or the economy. Having less children can, however, have a negative impact on society. How? Let’s take a look!

Human Capital is the foundation of modern economies. It is the capital and capacity the child requires to be competent out in the market place. The more a child learns, the more he is worth. Economists use this term to describe resources for a productive economy. The economy shrinks if our Human Capital is down. If our population and Human Capital declines there will be more need for everyone to work more and work harder. This also means that the younger generation is going to have to work harder because there are fewer of us. Young generations will also experience a lack of a natural built-in community.

Depopulation can also have an effect on retirement. When people get to the age of retirement they will have most of everything that they need. However, there will be less of a guarantee that the money you accumulated over the years will be there and it will also increase the age of retirement. Instead of retiring at 62 a person might need to wait until they are 68 years old to retire. Why? There are less people, therefore, there are less people to occupy the different jobs that a community needs to function. This makes the elderly need to work longer and the younger generation to have to work more and work harder.

We can also look at generations. Having less children will decrease the size of our families. Think about it, you start out with two people (that are grandparents) that have two children (that will be parents) that have two children (with spouses). In three generations, with everyone being married, you only have fourteen people. However, you have two people that are grandparents that have four children (who become the parents) that have five children each (with spouses). Now in three generations with everyone being married you have fifty people. That helps stabilize our population quite a bit. Do you see the difference in how the number of children a family has can impact our population?

(This is a picture of my extended family on my mother's side. We've also added quite a few little ones since this picture was taken. It's a few years old as you can tell by the date stamp. 😀 )

Don’t get me wrong, there are many circumstances where people cannot have very many children, and some choose not to. These are just some interesting points that I found fascinating in class this week.

( This is my immediate family. My parents, my siblings, and I.)

I love families. Families are very important and the only things we will take with us after our life here on earth are our relationships and our education. I come from what some people may say a big family. I am the oldest of five children. I am so grateful for my big family and the relationships that I have been able to build with each one of my siblings. We love each other and by having so many siblings I have had a lot of natural benefits. Being the oldest I have learned how to take on a leadership position, I have learned how to negotiate, compensate, reach a consensus, share (time and possessions), and I have learned how to make do with what I have. I would say that thanks to my parent’s example and leadership and my wonderful siblings I have also learned patience, charity, compassion, and service. This has helped me in social situations as well. I have also been blessed with a huge extended family and I am so grateful for that as well!

Well, there you have it folks. Some interesting things to think about. Please leave feedback and let me know if you have any questions!

If you like documentaries, you can check out The New Economic Reality: Demographic Winter (where most of this information comes from) by clicking here: https://www.byutv.org/show/5e819b00-5e99-4bf4-931e-c154d3c2dc8d/new-economic-reality-demographic-winter