Thoughts and reflections on family

Financial struggles are not uncommon. I would dare to say that every family goes through financial struggles at some point. It is the responsibility of both the father and the mother to make sure that the family can get through these situations, and while each of them has a different role, they both collaborate to ensure the safety of their family. Even if not all marriages successfully get through financial struggle, that does not mean that it is impossible. Fathers have a unique paternal instinct to protect, care, and provide for their children. In turn, children look up to their fathers as an almost mythical role model, with an inborn drive to make their father proud and live up to his expectations. He doesn’t just provide for his family; he protects them from poverty. He shelters them, takes care of their needs for a roof, food, and clothing. While Dad has a job, the family feels secure. Even in a two-income home, it seems, children sense that Dad is the main provider, and theref...

 Have you ever had the experience of fighting with your significant other and feeling like you just keep having the same argument over and over again, but that you're not getting anywhere? I have had that feeling from time to time, and I think it safe to say that it feels like you're stuck on a merry-go-round. You’re making no progress, things are getting heated and you’re starting to say things that you don’t mean. You can't explain what you need to the other, and trying to talk things through only leads to more fighting. Conflict is a part of life. It is a part of every close relationship, and every marriage, and it isn't necessarily a bad thing. When we respond poorly to conflict (as most of us do) or when we don't use it as an opportunity to learn, grow, or change, then conflict can distance us from those we love, and cause even more problems in the family. When we feel threatened, even just verbally or emotionally, the logical part of our brain temporarily sh...

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes people feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress can be seen as an imbalance between the demands of the family and the ability to cope with those demands. Every member of the family suffers from different sources of stress, social, economic, emotional, mental, and physical. Experiencing these kinds of stress is normal and, in fact, it can have a positive effect in short bursts, such as helping people learn, or make decisions faster. However, if stress is left unchecked it can have catastrophic consequences; some of them could be sleeping problems, arguing, distancing between family members, among others. However, with proper care, communication, love, and balance in the family life, stress stops being an issue. One of the first things that comes to my mind to avoid the consequences of high stress is resilience. The ability to bounce back from loss, trauma, tragedy, and other stressor...

 The idea behind maintaining a healthy sex life throughout the time span of a marriage is one that, if acted upon correctly, can lead to the happiest of relationships while reaping many rewards that come with this intimacy. As you might guess, it’s a good thing to have regular sex with your partner. Frequently, being intimate with your partner allows for bonding and connection, this is important in relationships. It allows each person to feel desired and cared for. However, when the sex life of a marriage dwindles or fades, becoming far from what could be considered “healthy”, powerful, negative effects in the relationship can be observed, such as disconnection and frustration. One of the main reasons as to why a lot of couples have a hard time with their sex life, is that many couples do not talk about sex. Maintaining consistent conversation about their experience during sex and sexual desires acts as a strong way of keeping the connection between husband and wife healthy. Withou...

Some people think that the love that a mother feels for her child is so much greater than the love of a father that the two can’t even be compared to each other. It is true that a woman's life changes, her body changes, she sacrifices every little nutrient she has, to offer it to the baby. However, most people overlook the fact that the type of love a mother and a father may provide is different, but their kinds of love are never inferior to one another. One could argue that the body of man is also transformed, his mind is never the same again. While the mother dedicates herself 24/7 to taking care of her child, helping the baby survive, the father dedicates his body and soul to helping them both so that, in this fight, they do not lack anything. The mother begins her battle: to be the best mother in the world. The father starts his own battle: take care of them. And so, the long working hours begin, the sleepless nights looking for better alternatives to build a better future, the...

I think that in our generation there is a wrong concept of love. I've heard too many times that "there should be chemistry" between a couple, that they should feel butterflies in their stomachs and have their heads in the clouds all day. Yes, that is important initially, and it is good to feel those things, but I feel that people make “chemistry” more important than it should be. In fact, I believe that “chemistry” is not true love; it is an introductory piece that can lead to true love, but it is not true love yet. As a Biochemistry major, I have come to understand how the human body works and the chemical reactions that lead to certain stimuli. Personally, I have come to believe that the "chemistry" of a relationship could, potentially, be replicated inside a test tube. Think about it, what makes you feel the way you feel is hormones, molecules reacting with each other and producing certain responses from your brain. Oxytocin is a hormone commonly known as t...