Week 13 (4/8 - 4/12)

Week 13

Stages and phases of family life:

 Middle adulthood

Challenges and opportunities associated with middle adulthood:

• o   mid life crisis
• o   teenage children- wanting to follow outside influences
• o   finances
• o   retirement plans
• o   changing family dynamics
• o   Empty nester
• o   Children varying ages
• o   Changing technology
• o   Traveling
• o   Grandparents getting older and needing to take care of them
• o   Medical expenses
• o   More time

A lot of people face the following when they reach middle age: 

Generativity- Feeling like you have a legacy

Stagnation- Feeling like you have no contributed much- like your not growing and developing.

Integrity VS despair

Based on how people view things and whether they learn something from them

I hope that I am ready for these changes when I am reaching middle age. There will be many things that come my way, but I am excited to make the best of them.

Week 12 (4/1 - 4/5)

Week 12

This week we talked about a scary subject- Divorce. When it comes to marriage and family, this is my least favorite thing to talk about, but I recognize that it is crucial to be aware of the statistics so that I might be able to avoid it happening to me one day. Here are some of the statistics which show that divorce overall is not a good thing and usually results in regret from both parties:

• 70% of ex-couples 2 years after the divorce believe they made a mistake
• 70% of men are re-married after

Therefore- the data tells us that it is better to stick it out because in the end you will have less regret.

• The typical divorce costs over $100,000 in the first 5 years 
• Divorced men are more likely to get remarried within 3 years
• In California 70% of the women are filing for divorce

Week 11 (3/25 - 3/29)

Week 11

           This week we learned a lot about parenting and a lot of the different approaches associated with it. Here are some of the key things that I learned that I thought would be important to remember as I one day become a parent myself:

Often when we think of discipline we think of punishment- that does not always have to be the case.

Who owns the problem? The person who’s goal or purpose is being frustrated.

Sometimes the parent owns the problem and sometimes the teen owns the problem- sometime it is shared.

If the teen owns the problem- use gentle coaching, opportunities to help them make wise decisions and learn from the natural consequences of those decisions.

            Natural consequence- Out of your control

                        Use except when consequences are:

                                    1. Too dangerous

                                    2. Too far in the future to be a good teacher

                                    3. It affects someone else

If the parent owns the problem use:

1. Polite requests
2. Firm requests
3. “I” messages
4. Logical consequences
• Given by the parent