Family Studies

My major at BYU is Family Studies, and when I tell people that usually their first question is What is that? or What do you DO with that? Well, now that I'm in my very last class of the degree, Parenting and Child Guidance, I want to share with you a little bit about what I'm studying.

My degree is based on 'The Family: A Proclamation to the World', a one-page statement released by the presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1995 detailing what the church believes in regard to the family. If you've never read this, I would highly recommend it, get to it with this link: http://lds.org/family/proclamation?lang=eng. To me, it's a guide to world peace. A little extreme? Well, not really. Think about where every great leader in the world begins-in a loving home with a healthy family. A good mom and dad in a healthy family life can make a world of difference in who a person becomes. This is the main reason I love my major so much and I feel like the things I'm learning could help me make a positive difference in the world, by being a good wife and mother and hopefully bringing contributing citizens into the world.

Some classes I've taken for my degree include family finance, food preparation, housing the family, textiles, interior design, work and relationships in the home, temporal welfare in families, basic entrepreneurship skills, floral design, human development, critical inquiry and research methods, principles of statistics, and strengthening marriage and family. What these titles mean.. I've learned a lot about budgeting for food and meal planning for a family, how to manage credit, investing strategies, basic finance information, the ins and outs of buying a house, how to deal with the many issues families have to face, and a few fun design tips along the way to make my home beautiful (and the tips on how to cope when I realize my house won't always be clean and beautiful).

This is probably a boring post, but I seriously feel so passionate about this degree and how much I've learned in the past five years. In my parenting class I'm taking now, I've read some amazing quotes by leaders in the church and some staggering statistics about the deterioration of the family as of late. So I'll leave you with a few things to ponder...

2000 U.S. Census Data and Recent Research Indicate the Following

• The number of unmarried partners living together increased by 72% since 1990 (mainly opposite sex

couples). The majority of couples now cohabit prior to forming a legal union. Research over the past

decade show that cohabiting couples are more likely to separate than married ones, even after they

legally marry, resulting in an increase in families headed by single mothers. Child and partner abuse

is also more likely in cohabiting couple relationships.

• Half of children in the U.S. live in homes that include only their two biological parents and any full

siblings. Research shows child abuse is more likely when children live with genetically unrelated

parents.

• Married couples with children now account for 24% of all U.S. households, down from 40% in 1970

(due to increases in single parenting, cohabitation, and an aging population with empty nester homes,

etc.).

• The median age for marriage has risen from 21 years for females and 23 years for males in 1970, to

25 and 27 years for females and males, respectively.

• The divorce rate of first marriages is running at about 50%. Of those who divorce, however, 75%

remarry, but are more likely than those in first-time marriages to divorce again.

• The percent of single-parent homes has increased from 13% to 31% since 1970.

• Birth rates in the U.S. and world wide are decreasing. Out-of-wedlock births have increased from

10.7% in 1970 to 33.5% today.

Three things about the [Proclamation] title are worth our careful reflection. First the subject: the family. Second, the audience, which is the whole world. And third, those proclaiming it are those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators. All this means that the family must be of tremendous importance to us, that whatever the proclamation says could help anyone in the world, and that the proclamation fits the Lord’s promise when he said, “Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same”

(D&C 1:38).

Elder Henry B. Erying, Ensign, February 1998.

I just wanted to share something that I am passionate about and I have been spending my time studying for the past 5 years. My wish, as naive as it may seem, is that every child would be born to a married mother and father and could be raised in a healthy, safe, and loving environment. I hope that I can give at least that to my future children, and I'm so thankful for the amazing examples of my parents, parents-in-law, siblings, friends, and extended family.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World--Compilation of Supporting Quotes this link can take you to a huge list of amazing quotes about the family and the proclamation.