Family Life as a Child

My Childhood

I was a very lucky child to have been raised in a home with a loving mother and father, and being the youngest of six children, life was full of love, laughter, and good times. I remember every evening we would sit down together as a family for dinner, which was spent communicating with one another, seeing how everybody’s day went. On Monday night we would all gather together for family night. This was a special time to spend together learning about Jesus Christ. Sometimes our neighborhood friends would join us. And, Mom always made it special, and it was the only night we were allowed to have desert.

I have come to realize every child deserves to have a childhood like mine, and we need to prevent it from becoming obsolete. Spencer W. Kimball in the November 1980 issue of The Ensign magazine tells the reader how the old traditional ways are being dissolved right in front of our eyes by stating:

“Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.” 

Current Marriage Trends

Everywhere you look people seem to be unsatisfied with their current marriage. Today’s trends leads one to believe getting a divorce will solve their problems. Only, for the majority of people it only makes matters more complicated and worse. In the article published by the Institute for American Values and the University of Virginia titled, “The State of Our Unions, Marriage in America 2012,” by Elizabeth Marquardt, David Blankenhorn, Robert I. Lerman, Linda Malon-ColÓn, and W. Bradford Wilcox, confirm how bleak the outlook on marriage has become. They say even though the majority of kids in high school say they want to get married, they all tend to be willing to live together first. This tendency has created the problem of conceiving children out of wedlock. When children are born to single mothers it creates more unstable families.

One central idea from Amato’s article about divorce stuck out to me personally is the negative effect divorce has on children. When I was in high school it seemed to me, the kids who had divorced parents were the ones who experimented with drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex. Amato indicates divorce actually lowers the level of well-being for children, because the parents become focused on their own personal lives which leaves the children stuck in the middle.

My Own Marriage

Ever since I married my husband, the two of us have been devoted to our marriage union, and to our three children that came to us as a result of our union. Together we have learned marriage is a continual process, and we have to constantly work at it. We have differences that we may never work out, but we have learned it is okay to disagree. The most important aspect of our marriage is at the end of each and every day to be thankful for our enduring friendship in marriage, and love we have for each other.

References

Amato, P. (Fall, 2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the next generation. The Future of Children, 15(2), 75-96.

State of Our Unions 2012; The National Marriage Project. (Note: Carefully read pages 1–13 and 61–103; you may skim pages 13-60)