Family

My younger brother and I are not even two years apart, we grew up in the same house, with the same parents, the same two older siblings and going to the same schools all our lives but in some ways, it's easy to see the ways we were raised differently. I don't think my parents ever intentionally raised us differently but even with something simple such as chores, my brother would most of the time help my Dad outside with yard work when I would typically help my Mom inside. I never once learned how to mow the lawn because my brothers always did that, just like my brothers never helped my Mom cook dinner cause either me or my sister would be helping.         Gender roles in our society have been a big topic discussed in recent years. For many years it was believed that men were superior and that men and women were very different in how they dealt with and reacted in different situations. In more recent years psychological studies show that there are...

It's really no surprise that the family culture in America has changed so much over time. Looking back in history I sometimes wonder how they lived the way they did but of course, that was normal to them and all they knew. If the people in the past could look into the future at our day I'm sure they would think we were insane too. The picture above is of my Nana and Papa, it's the only picture my Nana has from their wedding back in 1965. It's crazy to think just how much has changed since then.   I'm going to go back to the very beginning, to Colonial America, when practically everything was different, especially concerning the family. Back then you were highly encouraged to get married and if you stayed single for too long you were even stigmatized. Men were also expected to be financially independent with a house, property and a stable job before they got married. Families tended to be larger as well, mainly because of the lack of birth control, it wasn...

I learned something new this week called Exchange Theory. It's a social psychology theory based on how we as people choose our relationships and who we spend all our time with. In every relationship there's a little give and take, whether that relationship is family, friends or spouses, you either get something out of a relationship, or you don't, and that's everything exchange theory is based on. Exchange theorists suggest there is a cost and reward to every relationship, the cost being any kind of effort you put into a relationship and the reward being what you get. If the cost ends up outweighing the reward, the relationship will suffer. While learning about this theory I couldn't help but look back on past relationships that I have had. The friendships and other relationships that have failed for me in the past, I realized all had something in common, the cost far outweighed the reward, or the effort that I was putting into the relationship wasn't be...

Patterns in relationships and families are always changing, and honestly, it can be hard to keep up with it all! How we as a society perceive family has changed drastically in the past few years, we now get married later, have fewer children, and the number of people living alone has even increased. Of course, all of these new trends affect families but many people don't really know how much they can affect families. My mother married my father when she was 20 and both my grandmothers also got married at 20. I turned 20 last year and the idea that my mom was married and expecting her first child when she was my age is insane to me, I feel like I can barely handle myself and adding another person to that mix sounds terrifying. Nobody today would think I'm crazy for not wanting to get married right now (except my Mom and Nana, they like to remind me they were both married at my age) because its normal today to not get married until you're in your late 20s and even early 3...