One of my favorite talks on divorce is by Elder Dallin H. Oaks titled "Divorce". In it he says that the remedy for a troubled marriage should not be divorce but should be repentance. I believe this to be true. There are very few reasons for a divorce between husband and wife to happen, and those are the extreme exceptions. Divorce should not be a solution to your problems, in fact we learned in class just how many more problems are caused by divorce. Instead a couple should repent of their sins and be selfless in their marriage, their should be a lot of forgiveness and work to move past the struggle and have a happy successful marriage again. God wants marriages to succeed, if you are considering divorce for any reason you should counsel strongly with the Lord and not make a decision unless it is manifest to you by the spirit. I believe however that this, in most cases, will not happen and instead you will be counseled to fix your marriage. The extreme cases where divorce may be necessary are in matters pertaining to abuse and endangerment to you or your children. Again, these are the extreme cases. There is a very good video that portrays this well, taken again from the talk "Divorce" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK4wvSLw8qI it is a very powerful video that helps us to gain a more healthy view on marriage. I think that divorce is the "easy way out" in most cases and instead of making things easier and better it actually makes things a lot harder for everyone involved and should be avoided like the plague.

We are learning more about the role of parenting this week in class. Parenting is such a sacred role and has such a huge impact on the family and society as a whole. I believe that we need to work on strengthening the family unit and after we do that society will naturally be a better place. In The Family A Proclamation to the World it says that "we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nation the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." I think that this is a serious warning for us to get our families in order. The parents of the families have a huge responsibility to care for and teach their children in order for them to become well rounded members in society. In the article "The Vital Child-Parent Relationship" it says:

QUICK FACTS ON PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

• Children who have parental support are likely to have better health as adults.
• Students with involved parents tend to earn higher grades, have better social skills, and are more likely to graduate and go on to post-secondary education.
• Children are more likely to be socially competent and have better communication skills when they have parents who are sensitive to their needs and emotions.
• Teens who are monitored by their parents are one-quarter as likely as teens with "hands-off" parents to smoke, drink, and use drugs.

As we can see from this the role that parents play in childrens lives have a huge impact and can diminish things like violence and drugs and will impact their social skills, all of these things would better society as a whole. 

Fatherhood

This week we are discussing the importance of fatherhood and the great impact that fathers can have in their child's life. Children need a father and a mother in their home. A father has a great impact on his children and the way that they grow, boys that have a strong fatherly figure show less aggression when they are older and girls who have a strong fatherly figure in their life are less promiscuous when they are older. The department of health and human services states that "children with involved, caring fathers have better educational outcomes."  There are large studies that show of the positive impact a father has in his children's lives based on their relationship.