“Great partnerships are dependent upon each individual developing his or her own personal attributes of character”-President Nelson

President Nelson’s quote shows how America has adopted many cultures and two of which can contradict each other. Andrew J. Cherlin wrote in his book, Marriage-Go-Round, that in “intimate partnerships, where Americans can draw upon both a cultural model of marriage and a cultural model of individualism”. Cherlin goes on to explain that many times these cultures tend to clash because while we believe that marriage should be forever they also believe that if you are unhappy you are justified in leaving. From President Nelson’s quote he shares that we still have a duty in growing personally. I find from this quote that we can learn that when we enter a partnership or marriage we need to remember that it is not the other’s job to help us grow but we as a unit can increase our ability for each other as we continue to strengthen our relationship.

President Nelson goes on to say that “Male and female are created for what they can do and become, together. It takes a man and a woman to bring a child into the world. Mothers and fathers are not interchangeable. Men and women are distinct and complementary. Children deserve a chance to grow up with both a mom and a dad”. In this quote we can come to understand the unique attributes that each individual can offer each other in the relationship. In this short video we learn the effects as more people become fatherless.

In that video we learn the important and special role that fathers can play in an individuals lives and just like fathers, mothers too are important. This quote from Professor Linda Nielsen from Wake Forest University shares,

“True, most fathers and mothers relate differently to their kids. But why would we want them to be identical? That’s one of the benefits of being raised by a mom and a dad. They don’t always do things the same way. But this doesn’t mean that one parent is inferior to the other. We’re not doing father-daughter relationships any good, and we’re being sexist when we assume that dad’s ways of parenting are inferior to mom’s because he’s a man.”

I am grateful I was able to have my relationship with both my parents. From my mother I learned that as  women I can achieve what ever I put my mind to and my dad showed me how kind a man should be to his wife and showed me that I should never settle for anything less than that. With being a wife now with my husband I hope to do the same for our children. To work together while still developing my own unique skills and encouraging my husband to do the same. I know as we do this we can work together as man and woman to raise our children on a path that shows the need and benefit of each gender.