What are the Trends?

There are many different view points on what a family is to some people. Some people believe that living together as boyfriend and girlfriend is a family while others believe you have to be married to be a family. This week in class we learned a lot about trends that's people are following concerning the families. Just a few trends we talked about were; cohabitation, delayed marriage, pre-martial sex, births to unmarried women, living alone, living with extended families, having fewer children, number of people living in a household, divorce, and employed mothers. Since I am at BYU-I"do" I seemed to be interested in the delayed marriage trend. Growing up in the LDS community I have always felt a pressure to get married right away and especially now that I am a returned missionary the pressure is more intense. I am only 22 years old and sometimes feel like a failure because I am not married yet. I also know plenty of other girls who feel the same way who are my age or even sometimes younger. When we were talking about this subject in class we learned that the typical age for young people to get married outside of the LDS faith is around 26-27 years old. What really surprised me was when our teacher mentioned that the typical age for a young adult in the LDS faith to get married was 24 years old. I was actually pretty shocked and instantly felt a lot better about myself. I wish more people knew about this to help them feel better too and to just remind them that it's ok if you haven't gotten married yet and you're only 21 or 22 years old. People sometimes just need a reminder that they are doing ok in their life.

Another trend that I thought about this week was the having fewer children trend. Are people really having fewer children? Are people choosing careers or money over families? Everyone has their own reasoning for not having children or less children, so is it really any of my business? I necessarily wouldn't say that it's my business, but I do want to express what I have learned mixed with a little of my opinion of having kids. Jobs will come and go, money is money, but children and families are precious. Families will be the main source of happiness. If you are a good person, children need a good home to be raised in. You could be that person for a little baby. You can have a major impact not only on that child's life, but everyone around you when you choose to have kids. Our country is going to need future leaders and such positions that need to filled by your future kids who were raised with good morals and standards. Obviously I have no place to tell people how many children they have, but after this week and what I learned I will put more consideration into that myself.

One last thing I want to bring up is that these trends aren't always good trends to follow. I want to make that clear, and some are more important than others. I think the thing with all of these trends that we try to remember is how it will impact my family and future children. Even though I am not a mother yet, I strive to be good now, so that when the time comes my children will have the best chance and opportunities to be raised in a good and healthy environment. Well that is my take on this week. Until next time!!