The Things I Write About

My last post was about the importance of chastity. This post I will discuss the importance of family.

My family is the most important thing to me: more important than school, work, of even specific hobbies. But why are families so important?

I was taking a child development class for my degree, when I discovered one reason why families are so important. Studies have shown that children who are born in a loving family have better brain development. Being apart of a unit where they are accepted and loved, allows the brain to form neuron connections that allow healthy brain development.

Science aside, families are central to our own plan of happiness. It doesn’t matter what religious belief a person has, most people strive to form families in one form or another.

My family gives me confidence and the opportunity to serve. I feel accepted and encouraged. We support each other in our pursuits. We work together and love each other.

One time, my children were having a particularly bad fight. We had a family meeting to try to rectify the situation.  I asked my children who their best friends were. They each mentioned a friend from school. We talked about how they treat their friend compared to how they treat their siblings. We all noticed a sad pattern that they were kinder and more patient to their school friend.  I then proceeded to teach my children that their siblings are their most important best friends. No other friends should be more important. I saw a change in their attitude as they understood.

I grew up with three brothers and one sister. At different times in my life, I become close to each of my siblings. My brother Scott would drive me to cadets each week, and even became a volunteer to keep an eye out for me. My brother Tony and I would email back and forth since he lives so far away. Doug and I lived with my brother David when we first got married, and when we were saving up for our first house. We got closer from those experiences. The relationship I had with my sister was a little trickier. We are very different people, and when we were younger we fought A LOT. My sister knew the importance of our family, so she made it clear that we needed to fix our issues. I was very young when we made a promise to each other. To ensure that we would remain in our lives, we promised to be each other’s maid of honor when we got married. A promise we both kept. She even drove me to early morning seminary for a couple of years. Thanks to the example of my childhood family, I was able to teach my own children the importance of family. I hope to see them as adults being apart of each other’s lives. I would like to say thank you to my family for your wonderful example.