This goes back to one of our articles we read at the beginning of the semester, where people seem to think people who are physically attractive, are smarter, kinder, stronger, and more successful and its so true. We see people from our own eyes that are physically attractive and we automatically think they're more successful academically and successfully. The society we live in today, physical appearance is how people describe other people.

You can see this everyday in the celebrity world. For an example, Mac Miller just passed from an "accidental overdose" and Demi Lavato just was released from rehab from overdosing on meth and nobody has said anything about it, they look over it. If something like that happens to your average guy/girl, people will talk down and talk how stupid they are for doing that. Don't get me wrong, Demi and Mac are two of my favorites but because people like them, they forgave them for what they did.

This is a great point. I will be honest, if Justin Bieber sold a product that i thought I would use and enjoy, I would most likely buy it, just because I like him (lol). For an example, alot of girls buy the kylie matte lipsticks, just because shes apart of the kardashians, then you spent $80 on lipstick that doesn't even look good. It may look good on her so she can actually sell it, but then you put it on your lips and it peels on your lips and you could've gotten some lipstick for $15 at walgreens. Like the article said, "we trust the people we like."

This statement is very true. I personally always relied on my mom when I was younger, and I do still at times when I need to make an important decision, especially God. Its taken awhile for me to realize that my mom actually knows what I should do. Of course when we get older, we don't want to listen to our parents all the time, but then when something happens and they told us it was going to happen, we sit back and actually think that maybe we should listen to them. College has taught me to listen to my parents, even if we don't want to hear it because they have most likely walked in the same shoes we are walking in now.

This seems to be very well known, especially with social media today. For an example, people start Go Fund Me pages on facebook all the time and you have the ability to show a picture and write the story behind the Go Fund Me. Some people look at the story for the page but others just look at the picture and look at the title, "For a good cause" and donates, not even paying attention to the reason why they made the page. I do believe if you put up a Go fund me page up against another that says "For a good cause" they would receive more money. I am not saying that is a bad thing but I do think this is true.

I do believe that a narrative identity is very important to have, especially as you get older. You need to have a meaning, unity, and purpose in your life and without a narrative identity of yourself, finding a purpose can be a little more difficult. Everyone has a purpose in this life but people who are having trouble with their identity can find it more difficult to see a purpose or find their purpose.

I can say this is a very true statement. For an example, In highschool, I already knew what my plan was for the next four years. I was going to Lander, majoring in education, and going to graduate school for speech pathology. That is what motivated me to go to college and still be in college, and try my best to make the best grades I can. Eventhough my major has changed to Psychology, I am still motivated to reach my goal, which is to graduate a lander and continue my education, working on my masters in speech pathology. Without my goals and plans, I wouldn't be as motivated as I am to continue with my education. Having goals and future plans can motivate you to keep going and reach for the light at the end of the tunnel.

After reading this statement, I believe everyone should strive to be an agent, if you don't already. If you have act with direction and purpose, and to constantly move forward and reach for your goals, I believe you can be more successful in life. People who don't acts as agents and pursue their future dream jobs and goals, they aren't as successful or it will take them longer to get to where they want to be.

From what I gather from this statement, is that we act the way we see ourselves in the mirror. Cut out the thoughts of how you look, but think about the way you see yourself and think of the way you act. For an example, when i look in the mirror, I see Allison, the girl who is down to have a good time, who is very friendly, is down to make new friends. People in the society we live in get caught with the way they look in the mirror, instead of what kind of person they are. Instead of people worrying so much about their appearance, step infront of the mirror and tell yourself "The woman/man I see in the mirror, I want her/him to be..." and be that person in reality. Because like the statement says, be who you want to see in the mirror. Always have the mindset to have a positive reflection of yourself.

This seems to be very true, especially the society we live in. We wake up daily, believing that we should be apart of some social group. If not, we feel lost, we feel left out and not apart of anything important. The world we live in is making people believe they have to fit in to be cool, when you should just be yourself and the rest will fall into place. People will come to you because they like the personality you have, they like who you are.

I personally do this myself, because I am the one to care about others think and feel, especially my friends. Last night, I was at the bar with alot of my friends and we were all having a great time and I noticed one of my friends was extremely quiet and looked like she was about to get upset. Normally, you see alot of smiling in a bar so this bothered me. I went over to her and asked what was wrong and turns out, her ex boyfriend walked in with another girl and basically rubbed it in her face that he was basically dating her. Alot of people would've completely ignored that and would've just moved on with their night but i couldn't. I have also went up to a girl who was a complete stranger to me and asked her if she was okay because she was crying. I am a very caring person and I do believe not everyone who does that or notices sad or angry faces has social anxiety disorder.

Exposure, I believe, is a great way to overcome your fears, especially with public speaking or just talking to strangers. I wouldn't think anything else would be as successful. sometimes, you have to just build up your confidence and tell yourself that you know you can do it. I do believe EVERYONE can overcome their fears, if they put their mind to it and know they can accomplish their goal of overcoming their fear. For an example, if my fear was giving a speech in class, nothing would help unless I went up infront of everyone and gave my speech. Thats why you always can practice at home before, infront of your friends, or even some of your classmates that you're kind of close to, that will make you feel comfortable. I do think exposure can lead someone to accomplishing their goal.

I do believe this is very common, even in people who don't have SAD. For an example, If you go for an interview tomorrow, there are many people who i'm sure will be having a conversation with themselves in the shower or just in general, making up questions that the interviewer may ask you and you will come up with the best answers you can think of for those questions. Another example would be a first date. I know that my friends and I would always ask eachother what we could say to the guy if theres a time where no one is saying anything. Then, we would come up with questions and answers, just incase it was awkward.

This statement can be explained in one word...college! College will teach you that you may have the feeling you will barf infront of everyone, you will tense up, you will do terrible, but in fact, your presentation or speech is actually going great and you wish you could do it again because you're so loose and relaxed now, that you feel like you could go up infront of the class and do your speech or presentation 10x better than you did before. Before college, I was dreading the getting infront of people and having to speak but college teaches you that its ok and that as soon as you get your first sentence out, you're fine. I now don't mind at all, to get up infront of people. I have the mindset that I have to do it and I just try to imagine the great feeling I would have after.

I never really had a little of anxiety until I entered highschool and it was only in sports, but now that I am in college, I normally can have social anxiety, or just anxiety in general that can interfere with my academics. In highschool, I was very involved in tumbling. It is very common to gymnastics and I would like to say I am a perfectionist. If i was having a bad week at tumbling, where I couldn't do a certain tumbling pass, I would get extremely anxious the day I went back the following week, scared and anxious to see how I would do that night at tumbling. With college, I get so nervous when I have to go somewhere by myself and meet someone. I am so scared their not going to be sitting where I think they're sitting, and I feel like everyone is watching me. I also get really anxious before tests, I normally feel really confident at first and then I second guess myself on the actual test. Like the article says, I do believe everyone goes through a time where the feel really anxious about something. I think it just comes as time goes on.

Fixed Mindsets won't allow you to change and grow, like growth mindsets will. To be able to grow and branch out to new opportunities, you have to be willing to tell yourself that the abilities and the talents you may have, can change, but can lead you to more opportunities. For instance, in highschool, I didn't really like change so graduating was something I was dreading on doing, When the time came though, I knew it was time for me to make changes and to reach out for more opportunities. I do feel like more successful now and well aware of what the real life can bring to the table.

Another example I've experienced is comparing test grades. People would always make higher grades than me but there was also people who made lower than me. I would most of the time compare my test grades to people who made lower than me, so I wouldn't feel so bad for not making the grade I hoped for.

I cheered competitively for 6 years and of course we had our certain rivals. One of the teams we always tried to be like or be better was SO good. We would watch their performance and would immediately have the motivation to do better and score higher than them. Finally, my senior year of highschool, we were 3 points behind them and couldn't be happier. I know they still beat us, but we never ever was that close to beating this team, in the 6 years I was there.

I can see this being accurate, because comparing yourselves to others can show you who you are and who you aren't. If you compare yourself to one of your friends and you notice she is more sociable than you, or she is more talkative and its easier for her to make friends, than you can gather that you may not be as sociable and you tend to rather people come talk to you, than you talk to others. I know that isn't always true, but my point is that comparing yourself to others can let you see what kind of person you are.

It is agreeable that social comparison is used on daily basis and effects our behavior, perceptions and memory. The people in our world today are constantly wanting to stand out. They want to be different than the others! For an example, when I was in grade school, I was in love with Paris and everything about it. My room was decorated in Paris pictures and everyone knew i loved Paris. One day, one of my friends showed me that they bought some stuff that had Paris written all over it. I was very dissapointed, because I thought I would be the only one.who loved the thought of the beautiful city.

I have always been the type to be completely hard on themselves when I make a bad grad eon a test. I always ask myself what I could've done more to make a better grade than I did and I would always get really upset. Since i have been in college for over two years now, I have realized that you're going to get a bad grade in college, and instead of being hard on yourself about that one test, think of ways you could've studied better and move on and know you can do better on the next one. Know you can give yourself more time to study and do better on the next test.

I would say this is true, because I do this all the time. I always predict how long it will take me to finish my homework and eventhough I never finish in the time I thought I would finish, I still did my homework because because I made my prediction on how long it would take me.

As college students, this probably happens at least once a week. College students and even people in general predict the future behaviors or feelings we have, so we feel as if we are choosing the best course of action. For me, I like to go out and have a good time on thursdays and saturdays but I know have class on fridays and studying and homework to do that I don't want to do on sundays. Unless theres a test on Fridays in one of my classes, I like to go out but if I know I have homework due, I always ask myself "Do you go out tonight? or do you stay in and get homework and studying done and get in the bed by 11:00?" I think of all the outcomes that possibly will take place if I do go out.

This is a great example that they used to describe what representativeness heuristic is, because the generation we live in today puts people in categories, based off of what they look like. Going back to that example, people will describe someones characteristics and out them in a category that they feel is correct. Muscular, tall, wearing sports apparel gives people ideas that he/she works out on a daily basis and is an athlete. The only problem with that is thinking someone is this type, just because of their appearance.

This is speaking the truth. Most of the time, our past experiences, motivations, expectations, and moods have an impact on how we behave and see things in the present and the future. We learn from our past, whether its good or bad. For an example, I had a conflict with one of my friends not too long ago because she misinterpreted something I said over the phone. I learned from that and now, I make sure to read what I text or say over the phone, before actually sending it so it doesn't come off as me trying to sound like something I am not.

I would consider this common sense actually. For an example, if someone you know has had a bad day at work and she seems very quiet at dinner with friends, you can guess why she might be quiet, unlike others. Others might guess on what is wrong, like they may think she is just very shy or even rude and doesn't look like she wants to be there. That is why they say you never know what people are going through, so keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself and have a good time. be polite to everyone because you never know what someone might be going through.

I am glad to see this article say that no one is perfect. Someone might have better self-control than you, but that doesn't mean they don't trip up and fall sometimes. Everyone has a little self-control, you just have to know how to use it. I have stronger self-control than others, according to the particular situation so everything fluctuates, even your self-control.

Self-Control plays a huge role and pretty much everything you think of. It is what saves you from bad situations and having bad intentions. They live longer than people who lack self-control because they make their decisions wisely. They aren't so quick to make a decision and later regretting it.

I couldn't agree with this more. With self-regulation, comes change that makes you become who you are supposed to be in life. Once you realize that change needs to occur, to seek out more opportunities, you will find more success in life. I have learned from experience because in highschool, I was never the one to like change. In college, i have learned that change is good. When changes in life occur, you find great opportunities that you are able to do, to lead yourself down a successful path. I am thankful for the self-regulation I have received because without it, I wouldn't be the person that I am today, I wouldn't have the job I have now, and the future career I may can have.

I am sure all of us has annotated this line because we are all going through the time where we feel as if we have a total of $5 in our bank accounts or even $5 cash (literally). This statement couldn't have been worded better because going to college means alot and benefits us now and more so down the road, but its hard financially during the process. We might be in debt but if we didn't go to college, we wouldn't be able to accomplish the goal we might have set in highschool, or we may not get the job we have always dreamed about getting. It takes alot of patience and you have to trust the timing.

I think this is crazy that someone actually put this in perspective, because as humans, I guess we never really think that we actually try and self-regulate ourselves by four categories, but it is SO true! we control our thinking, emotions, impulses, and task performances, by shaping them the way we think would be best for ourselves. For example, I know I control my emotions by not being so quick to get angry at something or someone and another example, would be watching what I eat. I can control what I eat, so I don't feel as bad later on.

This is something that should be taken very seriously, because you could end up making a mistake and you can't take it back. I believe it is very important to discuss your boundaries and the likes and the dislikes before anything sexual takes places with you and another person. If the girl or boy refuses to discuss anything before something takes place, you shouldn't follow through because that is where someone can take advantage of you, just to get a pleasurable feeling.

This is very controversial where we live. We come from the south so most southerners stick to their traditional ways and I so happen to stick to the traditional ways. I do not agree with transgenders, gays, lesbians or same sex marriages because i do believe that God created us the way we were supposed to be, BUT...I accept the people that feel like they need to be another gender or if they like the same gender as them because they are humans just like me and they are my friends. I want everyone to be themselves, whether it may go against my beliefs. It is not my place to judge anyone that feels as if they don't feel like being the gender they were made out to be. I have alot of gay friends and I encourage, support, and love them the same exact way that I treat my friends that are straight. My point that I am trying to make, is that my beliefs may be different than others, but that doesn't give me the right to judge others with how they're living their life. We should leave that up to God!

I have never read a quote that is as true as this one. What i learned from this quote, is that the human mind is what tries to force facts into our head and once we realize the importance of sexual behavior and how it affects all of us differently, we will get a better understanding of the reality of sex in general.

When I was younger, our culture made this a very strong idea that people were supposed to stick with. They made sure boys stuck with blue and girls stuck with pink. As time goes by, tansgender, gays, lesbians, are becoming more common in the generation we live in and alot of people that don't stick to the traditional ways, have looked over those simple ideas and have went along with whatever they find most fitting.

I can agree with Pribram, because without our four main drives, fighting, feeding, fleeing, and sex, our thoughts, feelings, and behavior wouldn't be the way they are now. Those 4 main drives define who we are, especially sex so our lives and thoughts and feelings about life would be completely different, especially our behavior towards certain situations. I don't' think we would be able to survive long.

This is very true and it is very common with what I've annotated today. It's common sense when couples actually sit and listen to the good things that are happening, they find success and they build on their relationships, where as couples who ignore the subjects they're discussing and move on without talking things through, find more things to argue about.

This is the truest statement I have ever seen. Love isn't easy and whoever doesn't know that, hasn't experienced true love before. Love takes time and patience because in the world we live, time management is not a strong skill of alot of people have in this world. Alot of people believe believe things are supposed to be handed to them but that's not how it works. Love takes time because it's a precious things people don't take seriously.

Everyone needs to focus on forgiving someone and forgetting about the situation. Of course that person did you wrong maybe, but if you're constantly holding a grudge or feeling like that particular doesn't deserve forgiveness, your relationship most likely will not get stronger, it will get weaker. If you do forgive and forget , the relationship can build up and become stronger and confident.

I could see why this is true, because if you put yourselves more on a challenging level, you feel more accomplished, where as just staying on an average, controlled level and feeling like there is no accomplishments. Constantly looking for a more engaging and challenging way of doing things will lead to more of a successful marriage.

I can agree with this 100%, because I am in a relationship myself and the level of enthusiasm my boyfriend has affects the way I deal with conflict we may have in our relationship. Being mature about certain situations and talking through things, make it run alot smoother, unlike being very moody and heated in the moment, you won't find much success after a conflict. If you include conflicts and positive deposits, it wouldn't be nearly as bad, unlike negativity all around.

It's great to build a strong bond in your relationship in general, but building a strong, financially stable account is also very healthy. Being able to make positive in your joint bank accounts will and can make a relationship stronger.

This comes into affect in all mammals. Mainly humans, but dogs are very protective as well and can come from both sides. For an example, I have a male german shepard that is basically our guard dog. He is so protective of us! When we get out of the car, he walks us to the door, if he sees another dog walking into our yard, he growls and barks until he leaves, and if a car or truck comes up in our yard that he hasn't seen before, he waits at the driver door until the person in the vehicle gets out of the truck. I am sure this is common in other animals, but i know all dogs are very protective, male and female. Humans of course are more protective because they know more of what is going on.

This is a true statement. As we get older, our bodies begin to change and we start to see a change in the way we view things. The oxytocin in our bodies change constantly and the experiences that we face, dealing with love, also change. For an example, the love we experience in elementary school, is not the same as the love we experience when we are in college.

I've been told that a newborn baby can cause a family to go stronger and that the birth of a child, can cause a marraige to become stronger and the husband and wife are closer than ever. Which, of course that's not the case for every relationship or marraige.

This is very true! I have learned in my developmental psych class that it is very important for a child to create a strong bond with their mother. Once a child is born, they crave and want their mothers touch, chest to chest. Not having a special bond with a mother can cause several issues in the future.Same goes with the father and others in the family.

Absolutely! Oxytocin is the hormone of love and appears in every relationship on earth, in several different ways. I believe that oxytocin is goes through the good times in our relationships and also the times we feel conflicted and we need answers. Is there to help our relationship stronger.

I already know I am going to enjoy this article. It is already speaking a lot of truth in the third sentence. I think as we get older, we expect at least one heartbreak. We also know at least one of those heartbreaks will affect your life forever. My senior year of highschool, I went through my first ever heartbreak. I dated a guy for 5 years and he broke up with me over text message, started dating another girl in two weeks and then now, they have been married for about a month now. I also worked with this girl. So, i guess you could kind of say that i definitely learned from this heartbreak. it affected me in a good way though and taught me who i was meant to be. Eventhough I ended up being ok, some relationships affect people in a negative away. For an example, people deal with abusive significant others and even if they get out of that relationship, it will affect their future relationships and can cause conflicts in the near future.

For the small town of Honea path, South Carolina, one of the traditions normally every man does , is ask for the dad's blessing. I am sure people don't do that, but for me, that is super important and should be taken very seriously. I told my boyfriend that if i found out he didn't ask for his blessing, I will take by my yes. (Lol) (p.s. no where near getting engaged)

This is very common in our time. Alot of people live together before they even start thinking about marrying eachother. Alot of families who stick to traditional ways completely disagree with people living together before they get married and i personally don't agree with it either. I feel like that should wait so you can look forward to it in the future. You have to be excited about something!!

I would say I am some what of an anxious-resistant person. I care alot about what others think of me and i always hope everyone likes me. I hate the feeling of people not liking me. I want to be liked by everyone, because i can become very frustrated and stressed if i feel like a particular person doesn't like me.

Dating sites have become more popular as social media becomes more popular. Alot of people agree that talking to people online is more comfortable for them because they may be socially anxious, so talking to someone online makes them open up and feel more comfortable. But, not all people are the people they say they are on dating sites. Some people get on dating sites to make themselves feel better. To do that, they provide a fake profile to make them seem like they look better than what they usually do and get the attention they don't get that others do face to face. Things work through the internet, but they can also be setups. Dating sites provide peoples personalities, hobbies, and interests, but the question is, is all of that the truth? The tv show, "Catfish" is a perfect example on dating sites and dating people through the internet is not always the honest way.

This definition of commitment is so true but seems to be forgotten in our world today. Traditionally, you date someone, you marry them, you live the rest of your life with them and start a family. When you get married, the preacher even says to repeat after him/her , "to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." People completely forget the importance of that wedding vow and when things go wrong, or things get rough, they forget to keep working for their relationship, they forget that love can be hard, but you have to fight for it, to keep it going strong. I do believe commitment is getting worse in the world we live in.

Opposites attract for some people, but i don't believe that is true for everyone. For me, I like to see similarities in my significant other. I have learned over the years that the more i find different than a person to me is, the less we stay together or we hang together. The boyfriend and the friends I have now, share alot more similarities than differences.

Alot of people go for people who they are familiar with, instead of people they don't know at all. People are more comfortable with people that they have already known for awhile, especially people who don't like to step out of their comfort zones. Of course you are very comfortable around people you know, but stepping out and meeting new people will also give you a feeling of safety.

This is very true, because I do this as well. For an example, if I take a class at the gym, I normally see what kind of instructor we have. If he is warm and friendly, I will most likely find him attractive. If its a woman instructor and she seems to be rude and very stand off-ish, I will probably not be so pleased with the whole entire class. That goes for men as well, because you might look good and you might look healthy, but if you're rude or you come off as someone who is better than everyone, you won't have as many people that like you. For an example, if you construct a class, you can't just expect your looks to have everyone enjoying your class. You have to have a great attitude towards EVERYONE and to seem excited to instruct the class.

Facial attractiveness is something that is very important in politics. For an example, I read an article about two candidates running for president. The article mentioned that at the time of this election process, there was no tv, just radio. The people that were actually there at the debate thought one candidate won and that he did very well on stage with the statements he said and the answers he had, also his facial attractiveness, whereas the people on the radio thought the other candidate did really well and that his speech was the winner. That right there shows you that attractiveness is important. Even though, one candidates speech went really well, the other candidate had the facial attractiveness and won people over.

I couldn't agree with this more. During grade school, I came from a small town so the teachers most likely knew your parents from highschool or they are actually friends outside of school. Most of the children that the teachers knew and knew their parents, wouldn't get in trouble, where as the children who had no clue who their teacher was before class, or their parents didn't know who the teacher was, they were the ones you saw getting in trouble most of the time. I also noticed that students who looked better and dressed better, didn't seem to get in trouble as much as the ones who didn't have the best clothes in the class or didn't look as great.

This is a perfect example of how the world views humans and their personal characteristics. Everyone goes for the cuter guy, cuter girl, the one who can sing, the one who has the best body, and so on. Us humans have a hard time looking for whats inside and not outside. "Beauty is only skin deep" is the stupidest quote I have ever read. Beauty is not only skin deep, it goes within the body of that person. You can be beautiful on the outside, with beautiful features, but you can have an ugly personality that will make everyone turn away from you. I will be honest, when i look for relationships, the ones I actually go for, aren't the best looking guys around but they have a great personality and is overall, great and intelligent guys. With body and vocal attractiveness, I can agree on. For an example, we all know Post Malone is not the best looking guy around, but has the vocals to send girls over the edge. Another great example would be Ed Sheeran. He is not a handsome guy whatsoever but his vocals are amazing so having the beautiful voice he has, makes women attracted to him.

My cousin was diagnosed with Autism and his social media is where he can go and forget about his disorder for awhile. the internet causes him to relax and be his normal self. He is very sensitive about his disorder so he is almost more embarassed in person because he doesn't want others to know. That's why he likes social media the most, because he feels as if he makes relationships faster and more successful that way.

I couldn't agree with this statement more. You need to have your extra backbone if for some reason, you can't handle a situation alone. It's always good to have someone there for you, that way they can give you advice and it's comments and opinions different than your own. For an example, heartbreaks are pretty hard to deal with on your own so having your bestfriend there by your side always makes things a little easier.

Like I said above, my two cousins were adopted from china and it was the best for our family. We understand how important adoption is, because who knows where they would living now. Adoption is saving a child's life!

Adoption should be something to look forward to in some ways. Adoption is definitely the way you need to go if you aren't able to conceive or if you feel as if you can't care of your child as much as it needs. Adoption is something that is very important to my family. My two cousins are adopted from two different areas of China, but my aunt and uncle adopted them because they were told they weren't able to have children. They saved Catie and Carly's life by adopting them and giving them a better life to live.

You see alot of authoritarian parents in today's time. They lack the ability to support their children in everything that they do, but expect so much out of them when they aren't their for the children, encouraging them to be successful in life. For an example, I once was an early childhood education major and when i would go into the schools, I would see parents all the time, dissapointed in their children for misbehaving or not doing their homework, but when they would go home, they wouldn't be there for their children to help with their homework or just be there to support and encourage them to get it done before they were able to play outside, etc. In order for your child to be successful, you have to be there for them and support them through everything that they do and you also have to tell them what is right and what is wrong.

Becoming parents is something that should be taken seriously. There will always be pros and cons about becoming parents, but you should always be smart and use some sort of protection when you feel as if you are too young or not ready to have kids. You want to be prepared so you can be the best parents to your child. In the passage, it states that researchers have found proof that parents compared to non-parents, have been seen as depressed and not as happy and that's what you call postpartum depression. That occurs after childbirth. The mother can lose sleep, lose their appetite, and have issues with trying to be there for the baby and have boding time with him/her. That being said, if you feel like you aren't ready to have a child, use protection because every baby deserves to live and have great parents to be raised by. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/postpartum-depression-facts/index.shtml

In a way, I do agree with this statement. Traditionally, you see men cutting the grass and doing everything outside and the women you see inside, making dinner for everyone , cleaning the house and making sure all the homework is done before playtime. As time moves on, you start to see those traditional roles intertwine with each other. I now see alot of women coming home late from work, cutting the grass on the weekends, while some fathers are picking children up from school, making dinner, and making sure homework is done. I am glad to see this is taking place, because it reminds everyone that women and men can do opposite traditional roles and still be successful with their careers and raising a family.

I am here to say this is not always true. Thankfully I grew up with an amazing step mother and step father, that loves me like their own. It can be emotionally toxic at times because we may not agree on something but mostly we do and handle every situation, just like we would if they've known me all of their life. I was raised with rules by my mom and dad, so my step parents stand back on that part but can step up if they need to.

I am totally a pet person so I am all for considering my pet to be one of my family members. Dogs and cats are such good pets for anxiety or even depression. I know alot of people have "emotional support dogs". For an example, I know a girl my age that lost her father to cancer and she has her dog as an emotional support dog, so he can go anywhere with her incase if she needs that feeling of support. Pets are so smart and they know exactly when you need the most support and love. That is what a family member is for; to be there when you're sad and need self-assurance.

I am going to feed off what Sadie said because I agree 100%. Harry Potter is a great example to use for this, but the movie Ella Enchanted is a great example as well. Ella Enchanted is very similar to the Cinderella Story. Her mom and father passed away and her evil step mother and step sisters were the only ones there for her, as though she thought. When they figured out that she had a gift of obedience, they used her to do things she would never do. Her friend since grade school and the prince were there for her and helped her find her godmother to get rid of her gift of obedience. I, personally would consider that family members helping one of their family members. My mom, dad, and brother of course are my family members but my boyfriend and closest friends are considered family members too, because they would be there for me, just like my blood family members. Also, some people come from families that aren't so close, so having friends and having people you look up to, they consider those family members.