Lindsay Cowley

April 12, 2019

FHS 2400 - Marriage and Family Relations Reflection Essay

The Marriage and Family relations was a course that involved learning about
different statistics of where people stand in today’s world on their ways of communicating,
raising their families, portray themselves as a person, treating others, and surviving day to day
life in the best way they know how. As provided in the two files below I selected the essay of
nonverbal communication and teen pregnancy.
Nonverbal communication is communication without using words, so that would include
the use of facial expressions and body language. I felt that observing and talking about nonverbal
communication is important because that is how others see us. As people, we may say that we
don’t “judge” people, but as humans we make observations that form an opinion on whatever it
is that we are curious about. In reference to my essay I explain the observations that I made in
church, I was able to tell which people were married, had a family, and/or were single. I could
also form the observation of who was bored, who was happy to be there, who was caring of
another person by the way they sat by them holding their hand and other nonverbal cues.
Nonverbal actions are a huge form in communication to let the other person know that we are
interested in hearing what someone has to say, or our face showing anger or sadness if we are in
distress. If there wasn’t nonverbal communication, then I feel like it would take away from our
verbal communication. In our world the number one thing that we have that link us together is
communication and expressing our feelings toward one another.
Essay of teen pregnancy was another topic I chose to write about because I am very strict
on taking responsibility for your own actions. I described in my essay the advice I would give a
friend if they were in that situation and I am true to the advice given. Starting a family is a
wonderful thing but bringing a child in the world when you aren’t prepared for that type of
responsibility or commitment is selfish. With the many topics about family and support that were
discussed in class, this topic was important to me because this is our future. We are the current
example and us building our families is the next step in setting an example. A child deserves the
best life that can be handed to them. It is sad to see and hear about the homeless parents with
their children or the several hundred children in the system awaiting to be adopted when they
should have been cared for and treated well in the first family they came from.
These were brief descriptions on two topics that seemed to catch my interest in this
course. There were several others that I would have included, but that is a little taste of what this
course was able to provide me. The material presented allowed critical thinking on how we
would react if we were in other people’s shoes. A lot of it really helped me confirm most of my
thoughts, beliefs, and decisions. Some of the other subjects, I was able to think more in detail
about and may refer to again, when decision makings happen in my future.