Hello fellow classmates and other public who may be reading this! This week we discussed some interesting facts and trends in class. I would like to talk about the trends that as a population we are seeing now of days compared to the mid 1900's. Within Americans the age we now settle down and begin families has increased. The age we as Americans are getting married has raised to 26 years old for women and 28 years old for men. In an LDS population the age for women to get married is 22 and the age of men is 24. Going to school at BYU-Idaho I have friends my very own age who are already married. That is crazy to me, but I guess I may be adapting a little bit of the worlds view on that. However, in my experience I have met more men who are on the so called "older" end of the spectrum who have yet to get married. (24-27) and meeting younger girls who are 18-21 years of age here at BYU-Idaho. The worlds trends on marriage age is in a small way becoming the LDS "norm" as well. This shocks me  in the way men and women are holding off marriage now and instead of tying the knot, they are simply moving in together and cohabiting. Premarital sex has increased, cohabitation has increased, and young single mothers have increased. These are all results of our population not wanting or seeing the need to be married. 40% of kids born are born to single mothers. Think of the effect that has on the child and mother as well as the effect it will have on society. Without marriage there are no commitments to anyone. This has become appealing to most people. Another effect from marriage decreases is that birth rates have decreased. This bring us into the Demographic Winter documentary. This documentary focused on the fact that population is not increasing exponentially it is actually decreasing, the opposite of what many people think. There are several factors that go into the reason for this Demographic winter, but what will happen to the earths population if these trends keep up? Our older  people are living longer and less babies are being born. In several years the elderly population will start to die off and we will have less kids then ever before. How can we change this? Is it important to change this? and What will happen if it is not changed? Some questions to think about.

Hello all!
As this blog was designed and created for my lovely Family Relations class, I will be discussing my insights, thoughts, and what I have learned this semester. This past week during class the question came up about dating. "Why don't we date as much as our parents did?" now there are several answers to this question. I personally think that while our parents were in their prime dating years there was more of a social acceptability to formal dates. When I say formal dates I think of being asked out, going out and doing an activity in which each couple (maybe several) are paired off. Now of days dating is just "hanging out" only will you ever see steady dating on a very serious level. I also think another reason for the dating change is that young adult's morals have gone down hill. Our overall morals are not as high as they should be. Other colleges have much more vulgar and serious sexual sins, as well as word of wisdom sins that lead to loose terms concerning dating. One last reason I believe that young adults of 2013 do not date as much as our parents generation is because the reasons for dating have slightly changed. Our parents generation dated to marry, now people date to date and to have fun. Marriage may be more of a outside thought. So there you have it. Feel free to comment or post your own opinions! until next time.