Equal treatment?

I really liked the discussion in class today about how wives can sometimes be a little too controling. I've seen this a lot in my extended family and it kind of drives me crazy. My friend told me that at his cousin's wedding she told him that all he needed to know for marriage was how to say, "Yes ma'am." This makes me wonder how successful that marriage will be. I especially liked what Brother Williams said about men acting this way. He pointed out that if a husband ever told his wife, "Look, this is the way it's going to be and you will give in eventually" there would be priesthood discipline. I never thought about it like that. I think marriage has to be give and take, and that both partners need to be willing to not get their way sometimes.

Common sense... is it always a good idea?

A common theme I've picked up on this week in class is that many "common sense" ways that people think they are strengthening their relationships actually end up hurting it. I remember someone in class was saying that a friend of theirs wanted to be sure that their marriage was going to last so he and his significant other cohabitated, which actually decreases the chances of having a successful marriage. I think being educated in these matters and following the advice of church leaders is the best thing we can do to strengthen future relationship.

Man and Wife... I guess they really are so different after all

I really enjoyed learning about the differences between the male verses female brain. I have all sisters and my dad has (somehow) learned to understand the way women think. Because of this I never really appreciated that mens' and womens' brains just work different. I think the reason I like this so much is because I had a "light bulb" moment where it just suddenly hit me how our brains were different. I always figured that if a guy didn't want to talk about a misunderstanding we've had it was because he either didn't care. But then it struck me that what's going on in my head isn't what's going on in his. I've since tried to explain a girl's way of interpreting different scenarios to guys and they just didn't get it. I really feel like my future relationship in marriage and with my children will be better because I finally get that we perceive and understand the same thing differently.

Common sense... maybe not so much

I love the classes where you go believing one thing and come out believing something different- it almost feels like you're now looking at the world in a slightly different way. There were a couple things like that for me today. I didn't know until today that divorce usually hurt both parties economically. It almost seems like that goes against common sense. The second (and more surprising) thing I learned today was that better communications skills didn't necessarily correlate with a better marriage. I guess that "good communication" has been stressed my whole life- and besides it just seemed like common sense. My question is if it's not good communication that makes a marriage work then what does?