Importance of loving sibling relationships

Sisters give siblings better mental health, study shows

Okay, so I have all these ideas for this blog, but it's going to be a while before I have time to work on it, so don't hold your breath

Family Meal Time

Family meals are so important! I have learned that there are many benefits to eating together as a family. I was even watching a TV talk show one morning and they were discussing how to have positive, meaningful family meals. I was surprised that this was on TV. They suggested that this is not a good time to bring up family problems or concerns; for while the family is all together, this can create negative feelings and make children and family members dislike family meals and relate negative feelings with certain foods and family meals in general. Family meals are so important that I do not what my family to dread having to eat together.

Benefits of Family Meals

An obvious advantage to family meals is that when you eat together, you usually eat better. This is a good time to encourage family members to eat healthy foods and provides the parents an opportunity to get their children to eat healthy foods. Also, since parents are responsible to set the example for their children in pretty much every aspect of their lives, it is important for the parents to eat healthy, so if everyone eats together, all will be more likely to help eat good foods. This is important to me personally as well since I have struggled so much in my life to eat healthy and have spent much of my life feeling sick and fatigued due to my lack of eating healthily.

My textbook, Creating Home as a Sacred Center: Principles for Everyday Living, has a section dedicated to the subject of family meals subject. The text states: “The payoffs for family meals are not limited to nutrition…Children from families who frequently eat dinner together get better grades in school, feel less stress, are less bored, and are less likely to be involved in substance abuse. Other studies indicate that teenagers who are often involved in family meals are better adjusted and have better relationships with their peers and fewer problems with drug use, low grades, depression, and suicidal involvement” (Klein and Hill 139). If the families in this world would just eat together, think of all the problems that would be solved!

I also appreciate this quote: “The challenges of feeding the family are many, but the rewards are great. ‘Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing [feeding children like me green veggies…], for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great’ (D&C 64:33)” (140)

Halloween Traditions

Okay, so Halloween isn’t really a religious holiday. And it doesn’t even have any good morals like serving other people, but I still love Halloween. Any excuse I have to decorate and do something special or out of the ordinary I jump at. Halloween is one of my favorite seasons. It comes after a long time of no holidays. I love to decorate my place with all sorts of fun Halloween decorations. According to my text, it is important in general to establish traditions, they help the family grow closer together. So by having fun together as a family during Halloween, we are strengthening our family relationships, enriching our lives, and enabling us to grow closer to Christ by being able to do these things. (Okay, that could be a bit of a stretch, but I still think family traditions are important, and if Halloween is a scary time in your neighborhood, how much more important to do something with your family!) I have fond memories of my home at Halloween time which is why I want to continue some traditions. Creating memories for children will help them get through this tough life!

My Family Traditions

We would always decorate the house with a few fun decorations. I love pumpkin, witch, and ghost figurines and pillow! We would dress up every year and go trick-or-treating. My mom always made chili on Halloween. I could never understand why because I thought it was so disgusting. But now I love it. She said she made it because chili didn’t take a lot of work and it could just sit in the crock pot and be ready for when people where home, because we would be home at different times because of trick-or-treating and other Halloween activities. Plus she would be busy handing out Halloween candy. After we got home from trick-or-treating, us kids would always dump out our candy bags, organize our candy, have our picture taken, then start trading

My Traditions

• Make chili and corn bread! I love the Bear Creek “Darn” good chili in a bag…it makes tasty chili and is the only way I know how to make it.
• Make and decorate sugar cookies with Halloween cookie cutters!
• Send Halloween cards to close family members
• Go to a Halloween party
• Dress up, even if only to watch a scary movie

Sugar Cookie Recipe

3/4 Cup Shortening (part butter softened)

1 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

Mix shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla together well, then add dry mixture of flower baking powder and salt. Chill for one hour covered. Roll flat on clean surface lightly covered with powered sugar (and maybe a bit of flour) and cut with cookie cutters.Bake at 350 6-8 minutes.