#7: Majors and Minors

     For many new college students, the need to choose a major is constantly looming. They are constantly under pressure that they must choose a major as soon as possible. Through this often hasty decision making, many fail to realize the power held behind selecting a major that is seemingly irrelevant to their desired career. By going against the normal flow -- students majoring in the field of their career path -- students are able to show they are open minded and learn attitudes that are far more important to businesses than a major.
     Majoring in fields that are not directly related to career paths broadens perspective. For example, if a student has chosen a recreational therapy career path, they must be knowledgeable on psychology and various therapeutic techniques. However, by majoring in psychology, they are not displaying their academic diversity to employers. Majoring in psychology may enable them to perform well in the recreational therapy field; however, it does not allow them to bring something new and enhance the company for which they are employed. It shows that the student is close-minded and only knows about areas of that field that are absolutely necessary for them to know about. They do not show initiative by learning about something that may not be directly related to recreational therapy. By choosing a major that is not related to a career, one can discover new techniques to bring to the field. If a student were to major in music education and then go into recreational therapy, they would be able to use many of the organizational techniques involved in music education to enhance their performance in recreational therapy.
     Learning and become experienced in a field outside of a career helps one develop attitudes that can significantly impact a career. Returning to the previous example, music education majors are required to develop very understanding, patient, and flexible attitude. As a music education major, one must be very patient with students who may not accomplish all that the educator would like them to. In order to be patient with these students, the educator must also understand the circumstances in the students' lives and how they are influenced by the things around them. A student may not practice the piano for the required time which can be very frustrating to the teacher, until they learn that the parents of that student are getting divorced which is adding a lot of stress to their life. Lastly, music education helps one develop a very flexible attitude. If a student does not practice, they are not prepared with sufficient material to utilize 45 minutes of instruction time. The professor may have planned on instructing that student on the difficult sections of a piece, or answering questions. However, an unprepared student is unable to fill 45 minutes with questions or sections that require assistance. At the moment that student comes in the door, the teacher must develop an entire proactive lesson on the spot to make  up for their student's lack of preparation.
     These attitudes may not have a direct relationship with a recreational therapy career. However, with care, they can be implemented the augment the performance of the therapist. While the techniques on practicing and performance directly related to the piano may not apply in any way to the therapeutic techniques needed, the attitudes are what make the difference. Using the understanding, patient, and flexible attitudes developed in a musical capacity, a therapist is able to be more understanding, patient, and flexible with the problems, needs, and therapeutic exercises and activities that are individual to each of their patients.
     Choosing a major is not choosing a life path. It is choosing to expand perspective and enrich performance in a desired career. First year college students do not need to persistently worry about whether they have a major that is related to their future career. Instead, they should choose to major in something that makes them happy. While studying their major, focusing on the core attitudes of that major and broadening their perspective will impact any chosen career.

#6: Parental Hobbies in the Lives of Children

In family settings, children often take after their parents. In terms of careers, interests, hobbies, mannerisms, or simply favorite foods. However, not all children take after their parents. Some children grow up to be more like their mother, or more like their father. Some seem to reflect each parent equally. What is it that makes children take after their parents? While there are many different factors that contribute to the effect of parents on children, one large one seems to be birth order. Perhaps the oldest children are more connected to their parents than middle children, and therefore take after their parents more than the middle children do.
This research topic is very interesting to me. In my own family, I am very similar to both my mother and my father while my other siblings do not seem the same way. The hobbies that my parents had in their childhood are the hobbies that I have been involved in my entire life, however my siblings have completely different hobbies.
I am a little bit worried about finding research on this topic because I do not know where to look for my research. I'm not entirely sure how to find research that is specific to my topic because I feel like my topic is very specific. I'm trying to think of several other factors that could contribute to some siblings having hobbies similar to their parents' while other siblings do not. The success of one sibling in one hobby/talent could deter another sibling from trying to excel in that same thing. That could be another factor? I know there are a lot of things that affect hobbies that people gain, but I can't think of very many that are from a family setting.

#5: Research Paper -- topic

     In my family, I have been severely affected by my parents' hobbies. My mother played piano throughout her childhood, so when I was younger she made sure that I did the same. I have grown up with the piano, and still play it today. Because the piano was such a large part of my mother's life, she insured that it was a part of mine. My father and his siblings were all a part of the swim team. After discovering a hatred of running, and the lack of coordination I was blessed with, I resorted to swim team as my sport. I never would have joined a swim team if my father hadn't been involved in it during his childhood. He supported me through my seasons and gave me tips and suggestions to improve my stroke. The experiences my parents had in their youth shaped the childhood that I had. However, none of my siblings were affected in the same way as I was. My sisters all took piano lessons for a time, but they all quit and it was never a major focus of their life. None of my siblings have any interest in swim team: Natalie doesn't enjoy sports, Kaylee is a cheerleader, Mallory plays volleyball, and Zach plays soccer. So why am I the product of my parents' childhood, while my siblings are not? Does birth order affect the amount of influence parents have on their children? What makes a parent's hobbies often seep into the lives of their children?

#4: General Conference

I was lucky enough to be able to go to general conference this last weekend. The experience of sitting in the conference center was completely different from watching it at home. I was able to pay closer attention to the speakers, and feel the Spirit through the whole meeting. My favorite talk was given by President Uchtdorf in the Saturday morning session. He is one of my favorite church leaders, and I loved hearing and seeing him in real life. One thing that I learned at conference wasn't something that any of the speakers said. I think that a lot of the time, we view church leaders as these God-like beings that are perfect. While they are very in tune with the Spirit and close to God, I was able to see that they are normal people, just like the rest of us. They have to go through trials with health and hardships just like the rest of us and rely on God just as much as everyone else has to. Learning that was very important to me because it helped me realize that no one is perfect and it just takes practice to be able to recognize the Spirit.