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Saving First

Saving First

By: Mikaela Wilkins   As a kid, my mom helped me and my siblings divvy up our earnings into three Ziploc baggies. We had one for tithing, one for savings, and one for needs. Mom took us down to the bank every once in a 

Empowering Your Children to Behave

Empowering Your Children to Behave

By: Laura Bushman   Dr. Becky Bailey warns parents to not link their love with their approval. When love and approval are linked, children’s behavior is based on a fear that others won’t love them, rather than a choice to love others. Parents want their 

First-Time Mom Misconceptions

First-Time Mom Misconceptions

By: Elizabeth Hansen

 

Being pregnant with my first child, I have received a lot of great counsel and advice from my own mother and other women who are mothers in my life. While all of their advice was great, a lot of it didn’t answer some of my, apparently, misconceptions.

 

Whether you have kids, are currently expecting, or want to have babies in the future, I hope you can relate to and find some humor in my list of first-time mom misconceptions!

 

  1. As soon as you get pregnant, you will have a cute baby bump.

You can almost always tell when you see a pregnant woman from her baby bump, which always brings a smile to my face. I always assumed that pregnant women were noticeably pregnant basically the entire time after about the first month of getting pregnant. Wrong. A lot of first-time moms don’t start showing until a good five months into their pregnancy, some a little sooner and some even later! I’ve heard this changes for when you get pregnant a second, third, etc. time. But with your first baby, you’ll have to endure the aches, pains, sickness, tiredness and more without having any glorious baby bump to show for it. But, it’s all worth it.

 

  1. Everyone gets crazy, random morning sickness.

In my experience, the most common go-to pregnancy symptom everyone talks about is morning sickness. I thought it was going to happen all the time, but it didn’t, and it didn’t just happen in the morning. The only time I threw up during my pregnancy was at 11 p.m. For women who do have morning sickness, it happens at varying levels. Some women are even diagnosed with a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum, which is when they have extreme amounts of nausea and vomiting. Don’t compare yourself to others as far as morning sickness goes. Figure out what it means for you. For me, I had a lot of heartburn and certain foods made me feel sick, but I only actually threw up once. Don’t feel like less or more of a pregnant lady wherever you fall on the spectrum.

 

  1. You don’t need to start consuming more food right away.

I thought I would need to start eating more food right away, but that is not the case. During a normal, healthy pregnancy, a woman should gain anywhere between 25–35 pounds. And don’t really even need to start thinking about putting on this weight until your second trimester starts. As much as I wanted the baby to be an excuse for eating lots of extra yummy food, it doesn’t go that way. The baby doesn’t even really start gaining weight itself until the last couple months of the pregnancy! Man, this baby grows a lot slower than I thought J. But I am glad I learned about this early on from my doctor. You don’t want to be putting on more weight than you need to, because whatever weight the baby doesn’t take with it at birth stays with the momma. It’s less about eating more and more about making sure you are eating healthy foods and creating healthy eating habits for after the baby is born. Keep checking up with your doctor to make sure your weight gain and eating habits are on schedule with your baby’s growth.

 

RISE AND SHOUT!

RISE AND SHOUT!

By: Kaytee Johnson   “When football ended, I didn’t realize the hole it left in my heart until the baseball season started! Going to sporting events again has made me less stressed about my classes and given me joy thinking about our Cougs going out 

The Pace of Progress

The Pace of Progress

By: Ellianna Leilani Legakis   The scene is a weight room in late winter. The room is not overly populated, but far from empty.  So-called “Provo All-Stars” are using free weights near the entrance. Girls with athletic builds are using the treadmills and weight machines. 

Age-Appropriate Service: What Can You Do with Your Children?

Age-Appropriate Service: What Can You Do with Your Children?

By: Laura Bushman

Service is something that my parents taught me to do from a young age and is still something that I try to do today. The service I do may be small, like doing my roommates’ dishes, or larger, like volunteering in a second-grade classroom at a local elementary school or helping at a food pantry. My habit of service has helped shape the person that I am today; I know the benefits of service and I strive to find ways to serve others.

Dr. Becky Bailey (2015) tells us, “Children need to be of service. Whom and how they serve must be developmentally appropriate in order to be meaningful” (p. 166). She goes on to explain how we can ensure that our children’s service activities are developmentally appropriate. Younger children don’t have much of a concept of the world beyond their own homes, families, and regular experiences. Therefore, they benefit the most from serving their families or other people close to them. Parents can help them do this by providing opportunities for children to serve at home.

When children are first learning to serve, they may need some guidance to know what to do, but after some practice, they will start to find ways to serve on their own. There are many ways for children to serve at home. Parents can help their children serve by encouraging them to make a sibling’s bed, unload the dishwasher, fold the towels, or make a card for their church leaders. They can also expand children’s immediate worlds and service opportunities by introducing them to new people; perhaps they could visit a nursing home and focus on one individual to visit every week. This type of service, directly influencing people close to them, will be the most meaningful to young children and will help them develop a habit of serving others.

Once children get a little older, around fourth grade, they can start to understand the world beyond their own homes and lives. By this age, children will understand the benefits of community service, even though they may not be able to directly see those who are benefitting. Parents can provide opportunities for their child to serve by donating to the local food pantry, organizing an activity to pick up trash, or helping a new family move in.

Even though certain types of service are most effective for different age groups, children can still serve in other ways. For example, young children may not fully understand what a food drive is, but they will learn that it is helping other people and that helping other people is a good thing to do. When parents involve their children in service from a young age, children will develop service habits and will continue to serve others as they grow up.

 

 

Bailey, R. A. (2015). Conscious discipline: Building resilient classrooms.Oviedo, FL: Loving Guidance.

A Little Bit of Love

A Little Bit of Love

By: Daniela Cota Dating can be great. I’m sure marriage can be even better. Don’t get me wrong though; if you’re single, take a moment and appreciate it. Recently, a few wonderful women in the church such as Sister Oaks have come out to share 

Baby Name Horrors

Baby Name Horrors

By: Elizabeth Hansen Choosing a baby name can either be an easy baby checklist item or a daunting task! What really matters in this process is that mom and dad are both in love with the name and happy with their decision. However, that doesn’t 

BYU Passover Seder

BYU Passover Seder

By: Kaytee Johnson

Did you know that BYU has held a Passover Seder service every year for over 40 years? And that it’s one of the biggest in the western United States?

 

Dr. Jeffrey Chadwick (a professor of Religious Education at BYU and the Jerusalem Center) directs the service, which includes a catered meal of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and other traditional foods. The catering staff is even asked to prepare the meal in a “kosher” style. It is not an exact replica service, but a “simulated” service, as Chadwick calls it, because it is not on the calendar night of Passover and is altered slightly to help the­­ mostly Christian audience appreciate and connect with the service.

 

Why attend such an event? Gaining familiarity with and appreciation for people of other nations and faiths is an excellent experience for anyone. Further, this service may have implications in your own life and religion. Church manuals describe the Passover saying, “In addition to reminding Israel that God had protected them from the plague of death and delivered them from the Egyptians, the Passover also symbolized an important future event­—The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which delivers us from sin and death.” There are impactful symbols in the story and service that have deep meaning for Christians. These symbols include:

 

a first-born male lamb without blemish                                     the Savior

the blood of the lamb that saves them from death                   Christ’s shed blood that cleanses & saves the faithful

the removal of leaven                                                                      removal of sin through repentance

eating in haste                                                                                   responding eagerly to the deliverance the Savior offers

 

Speaking of this symbolism, Chadwick says, “Jesus was taking the Passover and using it for His own specific purposes.” He explained that Christ reminded His Jewish Apostles to remember the Passover Lamb—His sacrifice of body and blood—every time they ate the unleavened bread. “They would have understood that. Because we in the Christian community [often] don’t know very much about Judaism … we miss that symbolism. But it is there.”

 

Further, our sacrament meeting services continue as a type of “Passover” for us. Elder Howard W. Hunter said that just as the Passover was a covenant of protection for ancient Israel, the sacrament is a “new covenant of safety” for us (in Conference Report, Apr. 1974, 24; or Ensign, May 1974, 18).

 

Clearly, this is a remarkable event and is sure to be influential for anyone that attends. BYU’s service has attracted much attention in the last 4 years and was even mentioned in The Times of Israel.

 

Take a look at the information below and see if you can make it to a service this year!

 

  • Date: Fridays, March 15, March 22, and March 29, 2019
  • Time: Begins 6:00 p.m. (please arrive early)
  • Location: 3228 Wilkinson Student Center
  • Tickets: BYU students, faculty, and staff: $20 | General public: $30
  • The dinner lasts approximately 3 hours.
  • Attendees wear Sunday dress.
  • This service is not recommended for children under 12 years of age.
  • Dining service can accommodate most dietary restrictions.

 

For more information, or to purchase tickets for this year’s services, visit:

https://religion.byu.edu/event/byu-passover-seder-services

 

Sources:

https://universe.byu.edu/2017/03/09/byu-passover-seder-a-unique-cultural-experience-for-students/

https://www.lds.org/church/news/prayers-scriptures-shared-at-byus-annual-passover-seder-service?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/study/manual/old-testament-gospel-doctrine-teachers-manual/lesson-13?lang=eng

On The Same Page

On The Same Page

by: Mikaela Wilkins Growing up, my dad would sometimes say, “Do what I say, not what I do,” but as I’ve gotten older, I would say that statement only holds true some of the time. I got a mixed bag of information and examples from