ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: family

The aging process is something that everyone will face with multiple factors influencing the progression. Taking this gerontology class has taught me different techniques to consider when dealing with aging. The knowledge I have gained about the activity theory, successful aging, and retirement will help me cope with aging in my personal life. Likewise, I intend to use the information that I have learned about caregivers, long-term facilities, and intergenerational programs to provide information to my clients in my professional career.
Topic: family

In a prior assignment, I found that the activity theory best suited my personal outlook on the aging process. According to Hooyman and Kiyak (2008), the activity theory attempts to answer how individuals adjust to age-related changes such as retirement, chronic illness, and role loss. As well, Hooyman and Kiyak (2008) states that the activity theory is a social problem that is addressed by trying to retain social status, roles, and activities similar to those of earlier life stages.
Topic: family

Another interesting point was the concept of resilience, which is the ability to thrive under adversity or multiple life challenges and turning this adversity into a catalyst for growth and development. I learned that the concept of resilience takes into account the background characteristics, personal, family, cultural, and community capacities that protect against or moderate adversity and influence meaning and well-being later in life (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2008). I believe that I will be one with a very high resilience especially since I have a great support system from my family and friends.
Topic: family

I also feel like my interpersonal skills and cultural values will play a major role and help me overcome adversity that may exist in society. I plan to uphold these values into my later adult life and continue building my resilience, which in turn will lower my risks of diseases and increase my emotional well-being. As I age, I will apply the information I learned about retirement. Before this class, I had an idea of what my retirement plan would be; but now I am more aware of factors that can affect me when I am ready to retire.
Topic: family

I originally imagined I would retire and spend my life traveling with my husband. Now I know that family roles and responsibilities, health status, and retirement income are factors that can affect my retirement plan. I recognize that I am young and have a long time to think about my retirement plan, but I have learned that having a plan sets the path for my future. I am determined to start early by setting up a pension plan or savings, which will help me prepare for my future retirement.
Topic: family

I also found it was interesting that some older people tend to seek employment even after they are retired. Hooyman & Kiyak, (2008) points out that some retirees try to remain engaged in productive activity apart from paid work. I hope to be that person one day. As for my professional career, the information on caregivers will be beneficial for me. If any of my clients are caregivers, I plan to share with them the information on the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) and the National Family Caregiver Support Group (NFCSP).
Topic: family

The information on the FMLA is something that would be beneficial for the family if they were ever in need of extended time off to care for a child, parent, or spouse. This act requires that employers with 50 plus employees must grant up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually. Moreover, the NFCSP provides families with information and assistance, individual counseling, support groups, caregiver training, and other services to complement family care (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2008). I would also share with my caregivers and their families that they hould utilize the support services, which provides support groups and instructional training to help them become better caregivers. With this information, they can help their family members and provide them with the best care possible. There are different types of long-term care facilities to choose from and understanding the variation is important in making a professional decision for my client’s care. I would be able to provide my clients with the information on the assisted living programs along and adult family homes.
Topic: family

The assisted living would be beneficial to my clients that are young and old, who require some assistance with personal care and daily living tasks. I would stress that the homes are normally private apartments but has health care staff available to provide care as needed. The adult family home is an option that is available to older adults not requiring 24-hour medical care. I would suggest this type of long-term care facility to someone who is looking for a family like atmosphere without the larger nursing homes. (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2008).
Topic: family

The last important topic I would like to take with me into my professional care is in intergenerational programming. Hooyman and Kiyak (2008) say that this is linking older people with schoolchildren, high-risk youth, children with special needs, and young families. This would be something I could suggest to my older children and older adult clients who are seeking a relationship similar to their own grandchildren or children, but are too far away for that to be possible. It is also beneficial to those high-risk youths to provide them a positive role model or “surrogate” grandparent.
Topic: family

The Big Brother/Big Sister program and the Retired Senior Volunteer Programs are a few that I found to be very informative and a great way to get people involved (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2008). After taking this class, I now accept that aging is something that will happen to everyone. Yet, there are options to aging successfully and ways to help you remain healthy and active throughout the aging process. My learning experience has provided me insight into successfully aging and I no longer dread getting older.
Topic: family

I am actually looking forward to the aging process because I am now capable of guiding my children and grandchildren toward successful aging. I also have the opportunity to become a positive role model to troubled youth or young families that may need assistance. I visualize advanced aging as a challenge. I want to challenge myself to try to use what I have learned in this class to help me stay focused on the positive part of aging. I plan to use want I have learned as a guide to provide me with the best chance to age successfully.
Topic: family

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet tells the tragedy of two ‘star-crossed lovers,’ who are divided by feuding families but united by love. For many years, an on-going feud between these two families has caused much disruption in the city of Verona, Italy. The play takes place in the city of Verona and Mantua, Italy, over the course of five short days. Verona is the home of the Capulet and Montague families and Mantua is where Romeo is banished. Italy was seen as an immoral country, famous for sexual affairs and violent crimes, many playwrights including ones completed by Shakespeare are set here.
Topic: family

Romeo and Juliet was written in the Elizabethan Period which meant women were treated unfairly. Capulet’s relationship with Juliet reflects how life was like in the Elizabethan Period. Women in the 1500’s were clearly subordinate to the men meaning that they had complete power over everything. They were considered to be ‘inferior’ beings who were controlled by their husbands, fathers, or by any other men in the family. Life for women was one without any grand opportunities. They had no control over their own lives and their education was to learn how to be a domestic goddess meaning they would have to cook, clean and wash for the men. They had no voice in the society; it wouldn’t matter to anyone because men were the primary figures in the society. Women were property of the men until they were married and they weren’t allowed to hold their own views or lifestyle. This kind of society in the Elizabethan Era was called patriarchal suggesting that men were the leading figures making all the decisions about money, children, women, law and various social status decisions.
Topic: family

in Verona. He has the significant job of arranging the marriage for his daughter and finding a suitable husband who has high status, wealth and is intelligent. His love for his daughter is shown in the play especially in the way that he does what he feels is best for her. However, the major contributor to the downfall of Romeo and Juliet was Lord Capulet, Juliet’s own father. He brought upon the death of Juliet by forcing her to marry Paris, separating her from Romeo, and rejecting her. Capulet didn’t care about how she felt and forced her to marry Paris which caused problems that led to her tragic fate.
Topic: family

The prologue states that the ‘star-crossed lovers take their life.’ As the play progresses, there are many subtle clues that confirm the fact that Romeo and Juliet will die. This is the device known as foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is the use of symbols to show what will happen in the future. An example in the play that demonstrates foreshadowing is when Romeo had a bad feeling before the Capulet party in Act 1: Scene 4 ‘With this night’s revels and expire the term, Of a despised life closed in my breast, By some vile forfeit of untimely death.’ There are many more examples in the rest of the play because Shakespeare uses this literary device for the audience to get a feel of what will happen later. The final line in scene 5 of Act 3, ‘If all else fail, myself have power to die,’ foreshadows Juliet’s suicide. Since her mother and father have finished with her, she can either marry Paris which will result in unhappiness or she can try to find Romeo but that is almost impossible because he is banished.
Topic: family

When Paris first asks for Juliet’s hand in marriage, Capulet is initially reluctant to give his consent mainly because she is too young and hasn’t yet matured. This is portrayed in the line, ‘Let two more summers wither in their pride,’ this is a metaphor which Capulet says to Paris to wait two more years to marry Juliet because he feels that she is not ready to be a married woman yet. In this patriarchal Society, the father of a daughter has to decide who she married. Capulet treats Juliet as his own possession; his primary job is to find a suitable husband for her. Capulet’s reaction to Paris’s proposal to Juliet is that he feels she hasn’t matured and he is very protective of her as a child. He is overly-cautious in the way that she might not be ready to marry. On the other hand, he wants his daughter to be happy. He solves his problem for the time being by advising Paris to woo Juliet at the feast, and saying ‘My will to her consent is but a part,’ which means that even if he agrees to the marriage, Juliet has the final say. Unforgettably, his power to force her into a marriage is always present.
Topic: family

Although Capulet seems to look out for Juliet’s best interests, Juliet’s position is clearly subordinate to Capulet, meaning that she will not pick who she marries, Capulet will. Capulet and Paris decide on the marriage mainly because they both will attain a high social status and will achieve more wealth. Capulet wants this marriage to be a big social gathering to gain more popularity in the Capulet household. At this time, he is feeling weak and emotional so therefore he feels that this social gathering will cheer him and Juliet up. Wedding celebrations at this time was intended to raise spirits after a death, and in this case, it was Tybalt. Capulet thought that it was the right time to set the marriage.
Topic: family

Capulet considers Paris to be a perfect match to Juliet because he is rich, generous, powerful, respected and has a high status. He thinks that Juliet will like him, ‘Of my child’s love: I think she will be ruled. In all respects by me; nay, more, I doubt it not,’ stating that he is positive and that she will be proud of Capulet. He wants to see his daughter happily settled and married to a man that he approves of. Also, other girls in Verona marry men at her age.
Topic: family

Fate plays a vitally significant part in this play. Lord Capulet agrees to Paris’ request for the hand of his daughter in marriage forcing Juliet into a marriage who she doesn’t love. This is fate because if Capulet left Juliet to decide on who she marries, she would have not married Paris, but she would have married Romeo and possibly lived happily. Fate works in all of the events surrounding Romeo and Juliet: the feud between their families, the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s plans at the end of the play, the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not just coincidences, but rather signs of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of Romeo and Juliet’s death.
Topic: family

Lady Capulet’s relationship with her daughter seems distant and disconnected because she expects Juliet’s complete obedience in agreeing to the marriage. Juliet is clearly reluctant to agree to the arranged marriage as she says, ‘it’s an honour that I dreamt not of.’ Lady Capulet considers Juliet to be old enough to marry and a marriage to Paris would increase her social status and wealth, ‘so shall you share all that he doth possess.’ Lady Capulet sees Paris as the chance to make a social match for the Capulets.
Topic: family

Lady Capulet is forced to agree whole-heartily with her husband because in this society, she is not allowed to speak her mind. She is forced to support her husband. Lady Capulet points out to Juliet that she too was married at fourteen years old and that other young ladies are already married. Lady Capulet says, ‘Thus then in brief, the valiant Paris seeks you for his love.’ Lady Capulet praises Paris with many encouraging metaphors by comparing him to the most perfect ‘flower’ in Verona, and then she urges and persuades to find love with him.
Topic: family

Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris affects her father in a variety of ways. At first, Capulet approaches Juliet in a sympathetic manner because he thinks that she is still upset about Tybalt’s death, ‘How now! a conduit girl? What, still in tears?’ A ‘conduit’ is a pipe where water always flows; by comparing Juliet’s tears to rain and her to a ‘conduit,’ Capulet suggests that Juliet is crying too much. Capulet compares Juliet to ‘a boat, a sea and a wind.’ Her eyes are the sea, because they flow in tears. Her body is the boat, because she is floating in her own tears. Her sighs are the winds, ‘who, raging with thy tears, and they with them.’ Capulet believes if Juliet marries Paris, she will live happily.
Topic: family

Capulet was stunned and shocked when he came to notice that Juliet denied his consent for the marriage with Paris. He had expected Juliet to thank him and to be proud to be the wife of Paris. When Capulet confronted Juliet, she explained her feelings, ‘Not proud, you have, but thankful, that you have’ ‘Proud can I never be of what I hate, but thankful even for hate, that is meant love.’ Juliet hates the idea of marrying Paris because she loves Romeo, but at heart, she is thankful to her father for arranging the wedding.
Topic: family

When she rejects to Capulet’s proposal, he drastically changes from being kind-hearted to erratic and spiteful. ‘Proud, and I thank you, and thank you not, and yet not proud, mistress minion, you.’ He is furiously shouting at Juliet because she is not thanking him or giving him any pride and that she is a spoiled little girl. Capulet follows his expression of rage, ‘Out, you green-sickness carrion!’ ‘Out you baggage, you tallow face!’ This portrays Capulet’s conditional love with Juliet which means whenever she does anything that infuriates him, he acts like he doesn’t love Juliet. ‘Green-sickness carrion’ is a double insult; it means she looks as green as something that has been dead for a long time and that she has a disgusting sickness which comes from being an immature girl, and not a married woman. A ‘baggage’ is someone who is a burden and ‘tallow face’ means that she has abnormal skin colour which comes from the sickness. All of these expressions of Capulet are said randomly because he is completely lost for words due to his shock and anger with Juliet. He is stunned that Juliet would refuse to his consent after how much he has tried to provide her with a suitable husband, ‘Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play alone, in company, still my hath been to her match’d.’
Topic: family

Capulet swears to Juliet that if she doesn’t marry Paris, she will be disowned and she would have to fend for herself, ‘Graze you will, you shall not house with me.’ ‘An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend. And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets.’ If she is his daughter, she will accept to give her hand in marriage; if she refuses, she’s not his daughter and he won’t care what happens to her. He says he won’t acknowledge her as his daughter, and he won’t give her any support. In this Patriarchal society, if a daughter did not obey her fathers’ commands, she would be disowned and eventually she would die because she wouldn’t be wanted anywhere. His relationship with Juliet has weakened to the point that he doesn’t really care for her anymore because she has disobeyed him, after all the time and effort he has put in to find her a good husband. Similarly, Lady Capulet has the same attitude as Capulet and is done with her, ‘Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.’ Lady Capulet is certainly not going to speak up on Juliet’s behalf, and she seems to be disgusted with her daughter.
Topic: family

The harsh actions of Lord Capulet drive Juliet to feel hopeless resulting in her fate clearly making this a tragedy. A tragedy is a drama with a sad outcome. It is a result of key personality flaw and results in a fall of grace and in this play, it is Juliet who falls from grace. Juliet is a fallen hero in the sense that she was in high status but when she fell in love and married Romeo, this leads to her fate of death demonstrating to us that this a tragedy. Juliet is a good person in this play who is of high social status but due to extremities of human nature, she falls to low status, eventually leading her to death. This play is based on taking the audience on a journey in order for them to understand the flaws of the characters and how this ends up being a tragedy. The actions of Juliet and Capulet move toward chaos as the play progresses because as the dangers of the decisions are made, this results in a sad ending. This is one of the key features of a tragedy. Shakespeare purposely made this play serious and to have a sad conclusion because he wanted the audience to acknowledge all the flaws of the characters and how all these flaws result in this tragedy.
Topic: family

Since Juliet has rejected her father’s proposal, Capulet is shocked and furious because Juliet has never been a disobedient daughter to her parents which is now the first time that she has disobeyed him, ‘Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’ Thursday. Or never after look me in the face.’ This threat, because it is realistic, is more frightening to Juliet than the earlier threats to drag her to church. A father could bring enormous pressure on his daughter to marry the man he had chosen for her. He could not have forced her to say ‘I do.’ On the other hand, he could easily make her life miserable by shunning her and making her an outcast in his house. He shouted, ‘God’s bread! It makes me mad! Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play, To have her match’d,’ Capulet is angry because his daughter doesn’t appreciate all the effort he has put in for her.
Topic: family

Capulet has found Juliet the perfect husband, a gentleman of a noble family, ‘Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly lien’d.’ He wonders what could Juliet want more than what he has provided with her. It drives Capulet crazy ‘to have a wretched puling fool, a whining mammet, in her fortunes tender,’ who is ungrateful as she is. As Capulet sees it, Juliet is ‘in her fortune’s tender’ because good fortune is offering everything to her. For her to refuse the good fortune because she is too young is (ironically enough) just childish.
Topic: family

One important line that illustrates the extremity Capulet is willing to go in order to persuade his daughter to carry out his wishes, ‘An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets.’ If she is his daughter, she will accept and thank him for the husband he has provided her with; if she refuses, she’s not his daughter and he won’t care what happens to her. He won’t acknowledge her as his daughter, and he won’t give her any support. Likewise, Lady Capulet acknowledges to Juliet that she has given up on her and her opinions share the same ones with Capulet, ‘Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.’ She has put up too much from her because of her disobeying. Juliet’s parents wish Juliet would be thankful for what they have provided her with, otherwise, they will disown her. No one supports Juliet at this point except the Nurse which she asks for desperate advice on what she should do: marry Paris or find Romeo. It dawns on Juliet that the Nurse doesn’t understand and doesn’t care anything about Juliet’s holy love for Romeo.
Topic: family

In Act 4: Scene 2, Capulet is making arrangements for the wedding feast when Juliet appears and promises her father that she will obey everything that her father tells her to do, and tells him that she will marry Paris. Capulet is used to having his way, and since he has decided that there will be a wedding, he proceeds to make all the necessary arrangements. Friar Laurence has told her to lower herself and beg her father’s pardon, which is only true in a deceptive way. In order to sell her lies she kneels and says exactly what her father wants to hear, ‘Pardon, I beseech you! Henceforward I am ever ruled by you,’ Juliet states that she is in complete control of Capulet. Juliet’s new attitude makes Capulet so cheerful that he decides to get things rolling right away. He changes the dates for the wedding from Thursday to Wednesday. He praises Juliet for becoming the girl she used to be to him, ‘Nurse, will you go with me into my closet, To help me sort such needful ornaments, As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow?’ Juliet is demonstrating to her father that she understands and fully accepts her father’s new plan to have the wedding the next day, and not Thursday.
Topic: family

The night before the wedding day, the Nurse and then the Capulets discover that Juliet is dead, ‘Alas, Alas, Help, Help my lady is dead!’ This is Nurses first reaction to Juliet’s death. When Lord Capulet finds out that Juliet is dead, he says ‘Despised, distressed, hated, martyr’d, killed,’ indicating Capulets immediate feelings about her daughter’s death before the wedding day celebration. He is confused because he thinks there is no clear reason for her death. He is angry at himself but he loves Juliet because she was obedient and followed his wishes. Even though in this society a daughter was a burden to the family because they would be a huge expense, ironic, he was giving her away to another man, but now, he gave her away to her apparent death. In the end, it is Juliet’s parents who have led to Juliet’s tragic fate because their attitude of her love and the wedding have driven Juliet to this. Also, he is anxious about the marriage because he has worked hard to make the wedding a big social gathering for the Capulet household. The marriage was a way of business and it sets a financial relationship with Paris’ family because both families benefit from this marriage.
Topic: family

When Juliet kills herself, we see further evidence of the relationship between Juliet and Capulet. Although Capulet wanted the best for Juliet, he did not care how she felt and forced her to marry Paris which caused problems that led to her tragic end. Juliet didn’t want to marry Paris, and because of her own father, Juliet committed suicide to stay with Romeo forever. Juliet’s arrangement to Paris had brought her death because it had resulted in the potion plan that had caused Romeo and Juliet to die. It was this rejection from Capulet, her own father, which played a crucial part in Juliet’s death. His relationship with his daughter was one that did not work properly and had caused Juliet pain. In the end, her suffering led to her death which made everyone suffer, including friends and foes.
Topic: family

This tragic play has contemporary relevance in the way that many parents now days may not approve on marriages such as Juliet with Paris. Many people who have high social status or are monarchies still marry for social status and wealth. However, most people today marry for their love and affection for one another, so therefore, marriage is for love not power. Parents may feel that the partner of his/her daughter/son is not good enough to satisfy the families’ needs or they may feel that this particular person would not love them as good as another particular person would and could provide.
Topic: family

At the start of the play, Lord Capulet followed his social role of the father, and felt it was his duty as the man of the house to protect his family and their reputation. Lord Capulet’s role in society leads him to be part of the cause of Juliet’s death. Since the father of the house was supposed to protect not only the safety, but the pride of his family, he looked past the pain of his own daughter to fulfill this duty. He believed that Paris would be the right, and suitable groom for Juliet, and would bring riches and dignity to his family. As he told Juliet of this, she reacted in an angry and distasteful way since she loved Romeo, but he only saw her refusing to obey him and the chance that shame would be brought forth onto his family. Lord Capulet didn’t even let her share her opinion of why she did not want to marry Paris, but believed it was his social duty to either have her marry him, or marry nobody.
Topic: family

When Juliet defied her father’s decision, he was shocked and livid. Juliet betrayed him by not approving to the marriage, but Lord Capulet was stunned and lost for words because he was used to having her obey his every decision. Her rebelliousness to his decision mocked his manhood because as the ‘man of the house,’ he should control her daughter. Juliet wishes that if her father didn’t choose who she marries, she would live happily with someone who she loves, not the person who her father forces her to love. She wishes she could acknowledge her parents about her love with Romeo without her doubting the terrible reactions of her parents.
Topic: family

After when Juliet defies her father, she tries to appease her father by begging him for forgiveness and kneels down to let him know that she is in full control of Capulet. Juliet comforts her father by promising to marry Paris which is his initial demand, but this changes his overlook on his daughter once again. He feels as if she has matured into a woman and become the fine daughter she used to be.
Topic: family

In this play, Lord Capulet’s relationship with his daughter was one that did not function correctly because all his actions worked against Juliet causing her pain and eventually her death. In different parts of the play, this relationship changes erratically because of Capulet’s conditional love for Juliet. At one point, Capulet loves Juliet because she has obeyed him but until she doesn’t approve of his proposal with Paris, he threatens to disown her and not to love someone who doesn’t give thanks for what he has given. However, when Juliet commits suicide, we see a special side of Capulet. He blames himself and his harsh actions for Juliet’s suicide and that if he just let her choose who she marries, the ending wouldn’t be like this.
Topic: family

is not death of two young lovers, but the failure of society to overcome the social ‘barriers’ that would have prevented the loss of so many innocent lives. If the two families had just stopped feuding earlier, the lives of the two lovers could have been saved. One of these obstacles is fate which is constant throughout the play in order to give the reader a little hope that the two will survive, but with each event, that hope is crushed. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet teaches the audience a lesson: True love knows no limits. It drives Romeo and Juliet to ignore the barriers of family feud and to defy parental authority. True love finds a way, through death, to unite the lovers eternally. Truly, this young couple shows how love can conquer all things.
Topic: family

In these first ten chapters Jane has not yet developed a mature attitude toward life and death, and finds it quite hard to deal with difficult situations at points in the novel. In situations such as dealing with getting locked up in the red room her imagination took over and couldn’t cope with the pressure of being disciplined, she is still very scared about coping with life on her own and this is yet a part of her life that she yet hasn’t discovered simply because she is still very young an immature. Also at Lowood always has to answer back when being disciplined and doesn’t really understand that sometime it is necessary to be quiet in certain situations, sometimes Jane doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut and always has to have an opinion when not necessary.
Topic: family

Jane has to face an extremely difficult situation in this story, when Helen burns, her best friend is dying. Jane considers death but not as a reality she has a childlike attitude towards death. This is the point where Jane has not fully committed to God and afterlife; this is the difference between both these girls, she has not commited towards God yet in the novel because life hasn’t really been on her side where she has lost her parents and is now getting mistreated by her Aunt, she hasn’t experienced any love or care from anyone in a while until she met Helen Burns:
Topic: family

In chapter ten Jane’s character changes, after Helens death Jane had matured and realised that everyone has to die sometime and can happen so sudden. Helens death had a huge impact on the change in Jane’s character as I taught her a lesson about life, that it’s too short. Jane had progressed greatly and took advantage of all educational opportunities made available to her. This begins the third stage of her life and also here movement into adulthood. Jane has also became very responsible in this chapter as she finds out from Bessie that John Reed has treated his mother horribly and left her when she was ill, even though what Mrs Reed has put Jane through she went back to Gateshead to see how she was keeping, this shows us that she can now deal with difficult situations on her own and takes life as it comes.
Topic: family

Charlotte Bronte’s writing affects how we feel about Jane at this stage, as she creates good impression of a child’s view point. Charlotte Bronte has experienced this in her own childhood and when reading this novel she captures your attention and takes us through the experience with her, as she has lost her sister when she was at school. This is her describing how she felt at this time of her childhood and how she coped with the pressure through the character of Jane Eyre.
Topic: family

Source D says in one line of the poster “All you need do is enroll your name with the local authority” While most would look at this and think the Government are just trying to make it as quick and easy as possible to help things along, there are some who would simply see the chance to get a child without having to have a police check so you can imagine there were quite a few unsavory people such as pedophiles and abusers that signed up just giving their name and getting a child that they had with them for the next four years.
Topic: family

This backs up my own knowledge about lack of organisation the Government put into evacuation despite having realised many years ago that in the event of another war evacuation was likely. It is a well used phrase “but when I looked at their faces my heart melted and I couldn’t say no” I imagine this is what happened when people saw the picture of the two smiling children featured on it. Half of the background is of a lovely countryside scene with sunshine, perhaps Scotland where it was to be circulated.
Topic: family

The other half however is a blacked out city with planes and bombs. Anyone whose heart melted at the little children would certainly want to take them away from that dreary scene. Also the language used in the text is very persuasive using such things as “kindly folk”, “greatly helping” and “take them out of a danger zone where desperate peril may come at any moment” which would convince many people to foster such small innocent children and take them away from harm.
Topic: family

In discovering that someone wrote a book about their struggles and challenges during the war as well as the survival up in the high mountains of Xieng Khuong I was ecstatic. Reading chapter to chapter, I was engrossed to learn of the author, Kao Kalia Yang’s journey from Laos to the Americas. Although Kao Kalia came to the Americas in the 1980s, my parents and older siblings lived through the similar pain and suffering she endured.
Topic: family

Often times, the breast milk was not enough, or infected due to mothers being sick as described in the book. The only alternative mothers could do was substitute breast milk with a sip of sweetened condensed milk. This substitution would make the babies stop crying. My mother told me that my brothers were mostly fed with sweetened condensed milk because she was incapable to produce enough breast milk for the hungry boys. Kao Kalia explained in the book that during their mission to cross the Mekong River her older sister, Dawb was given sweetened condensed milk because of her ill other who was unable to produce breast milk. As many Hmong can contest, the Mekong River is a treacherous river. When my parents, my siblings and my grandparent decided to cross the risky Mekong River, they too used pieces of long bamboo to float across from Laos to Thailand as described in the book. My mother described to me that the part they crossed on the Mekong River was roughly one mile long, which was longer than Kao Kalia’s family experienced. The Mekong River was monstrous and was not forgiving at all for those that try to cross its body of water.
Topic: family

My mother said that hundreds, if not thousands of Hmong died on that river due to drowning and I believe her. One time, my father told me his brother died trying to come to the America, but not because he was gunned down by Laotian soldiers. It was an attempt to cross this wild river to find a better life for his family. My father did not blame his brother for making the effort to cross the monstrous river, knowing he could not swim. To date, the Hmong have neither land nor a country after scarifying for so long in hiding.
Topic: family

With that said, the first generation folks continue to believe that one day, we will have our own country. When I read that Kao Kalia’s grandmother hoped to go back to Laos one day, it made me think about my father’s dream for having to go back one day, too. With the late General Vang Pao who brought us to the Americas and led us to a better place to live more serenely, the first generation folks like my father, hope that we will regain a piece of land that will be ours. It may not be now, or ten years from now, but hopefully one day the Hmong will have a country.
Topic: family

Most importantly, we can lead the dead to trace their footsteps back to their ancestors if we have our own country. So today, we continue to live in the Americas and appreciate that we no longer need to run away from fear. Also, we need to remind our second and third generations to value what they have in life. We need to continue telling our children the story tale of Yer and the Tiger up in the high mountains of Laos so that they too would remember where they came from and who their ancestors were.
Topic: family

We need to remind our children and our children’s children that we fought across this treacherous Mekong River even though life on the other side of the world was an unknown to us. I believe that Kao Kalia’s grandmother wanted her grandchildren to remember all the stories she told even the part about the burial of her late husband up in the mountains. On occasion, my father mentions that one day he would return to Laos to fix my grandfather’s tombstone up in the high mountains, too.
Topic: family

I have enjoyed reading this book that I finished it in three days. I wished they taught this in high school because I felt so emotionally attached to Kao Kalia’s life long journey to America. I felt like I was right next to her even though I had never been to Laos or Thailand. This book is so compelling and captures a well thought out history of our existence in the Americas today. What I enjoyed the most was Kao Kalia Yang as a profound writer with ambition to keep history alive.
Topic: family

“Traveling to school: an action plan” points out several key factors that are important and crucial in reducing the number of cars on the school, there are several key points that need to be addressed. The first major problem with the recommendations made in the action plan are in regards to the RAC’s comments that the effects of the school run are exaggerated, because of the fact that many parents who drop their children off at school, would be using their vehicle anyways to continue on their way to work.
Topic: family

This is actually a better way of transportation, because it promotes car-pooling, so instead of a parent making a single trip to their place of work, they are also using their vehicle as a means of transportation for their children to get to school. The action plan should therefore look more specifically at parents who are involved in the school run who are making dropping off their children the sole purpose of their journey, otherwise they are targeting a group who for the most part are doing the right thing by using their vehicle for more than a single trip for a single person.
Topic: family

The rest of the “action plan” seems to be not much else other than a desire of the government to make children more active and lower obesity rates. Other than that they should be attacking other areas to reduce congestion on the roads, such as mentioned before, single drivers in single cars traveling to work. It should maybe target the other cars on the road at peak hours, because only 1 in 5 are on the school run, meaning that at least 3 in 5 cars on the road at that same time are probably on their way to work.
Topic: family

My aim is to attempt to prove that the Kamasutra is far from being a work of erotic fantasy. It is both an ideal and a religious text but not in my opinion erotic. It is also an example of the many frameworks and cultural habits of ancient India. Probably written by a Brahmin, it was designed as an instruction of the legitimate boundaries of pleasure. Kamasutra simply means pleasure (karma) scripture (sutra). The Kamasutra, as I will attempt to prove, is another display of a cultural adoration of division and classification so as to accommodate the cosmic order called Rita; a concept of every thing being designed and ordered.
Topic: family

For example, Brahman were meant to be strict vegetarians. Moreover, the food could only be cooked by another Brahmin as they are the only class pure enough to perform such an act. As women were culturally seen as “creatures of lust” there simply had to be laws and frameworks on how to intercourse and interact with woman. Moreover, there are so many bodily fluids involved in intercourse that it was considered extremely impure like a form of pollution.
Topic: family

Dharma has often split into several sections comprised of these types; Asramadharma, Varnadharma, Varnasramadharma, Gunadharma, Naimittakadharma and Sadharanadharma. The common feature in all these types is that one must help themselves in addition to what they are in terms of their class. Nothing is presupposed and this is why a Brahman might take it upon himself to write a sutra for regulating pleasure.
Topic: family

The Kamasutra talks of a Nagaraka; this is an idealised “man of the town” whose life is meticulously designed. His ideal life, house and even his daily routine is described in order to portray a perfectly balanced (like Dharma and Rita) and beautiful environment. He is an unrealistic ideal; it even goes as far as to say he should be treated as divinity. This comes after the list of 64 arts, in accordance with a tradition of lists, to which females were expected to master as a way of pleasing men. These would include singing, dancing and many more of the arts. These constant lists and the Kamasutra it’s self could partly be seen as an attempt to fill all possible spaces in life so that Dharma is fully respected; we see this too in the temples which were covered in every space with forms. The Kamasutra is also depicted in the temples as it is a model for Gods and Goddesses also. One example of the Kamasutra as an expression of art would be seen in the Kujeraho temple.
Topic: family

The Kamasutra then goes on to lay down rules of relationships. In accordance with the laws of Dharma it states that the ideal marriage would be to a virgin of one’s own class simply as a means to producing sons. It is interesting that we can see the tradition of females holding less weight of importance in ancient India from a feminist point of view. In the treatise of Dharma it actually states the couple must have sex during a period of eight days at the end of each menstruation, this is another example of all spontaneity being stolen from the lovers. By looking at the Arthasastra it is clear that in practice a marriage might be annulled even though sacred law rules out divorce as an option completely. Polygamy, however, is accepted and Vatsyanna, who wrote the most famous version of the Kamasutra between the 1st and 4th centuries CE, makes reasons for taking on another wife in a list typical to Indian culture which even goes so far as to instruct elder wives on how they should treat the newer wives. It is here that we then see a suspension in their morality by suggesting it is not permissible to have sex with someone of a higher class, here we see the theme of impurity again, and any woman of experience. However, it is acceptable to intercourse with lower classes, prostitutes and widows. In accordance with a long history of lists it describes who one cannot have sex with; a framework very similar to that of the way Dharma classifies with whom each class is allowed to interact with.
Topic: family

again here when they go as far as to make hierarchical lists based on genital size, passion and time to achieving orgasm. Like within the class system, the seasons and varnasramadharma the categories are split in to four titled as one of eight different animals. This list is called the Kama Kalpa which is based on their influence in the animal kingdom and makes similarities in looks e.g. the Lotus would be a thin lady, the rest of the lists goes as follows; Lotus, Art, Conch and Elephant for the women and Hare, Buck, Bull and Stallion for the men. The imagination runs wild when one tries to explain their train of thought when choosing those animals.
Topic: family

The Kamasutra is a laborious read which reveals something very unerotic; a large part of the text is lengthily lists concern policies on marriage which none could make sound erotic. More importantly, although it talks of things which people could be excited about in the heat of the moment; it takes away all the spontaneity of love making and enforces control as comfort for the Brahman who are concerned with upsetting the balance and cosmic order. From a literary point of view the theme of fours being used in many of the lists ties in with the lists of fours in the seasons, the class system, the Varnasramadharma and even the sexual classifications. It is because of the strong influence of an objective to maintain Rita that the Kamasutra is no more than a book of lists. In fear of upsetting the cosmic order there is no humour or obscenity. Erotic fantasy this is not. The Kamasutra is useful to the scholar as evidence of the themes in ancient India.
Topic: family

Marriage is seen to be very important by many Jews in physical and spiritual ways. This is shown by the Hebrew word for marriage Kiddushin that means holiness. There are many over reasons that Jews get married. One of these reasons would be for kids as the first commandment in genesis is to go populate the world, as children are a gift from god. Also it is not good to be alone as shown by god with the companionship of Adam and Eve.
Topic: family

The only people that should delay being married are those who study in the yeshiva, which is a collage for the study of the Torah. There is also the Jewish story of Ina shalom where a non Jewish person says that the Jews god is a thief because he stole a rib from Adam. The Jewish person replies by saying a person broke in his house and stole the silver coins but replaced them with gold ones, the non Jew laughs and said he was hardly a thieve, then the Jewish person continues on saying that good was the same by taking a rib from Adam and gave him a wife.
Topic: family

As you can tell it’s really important for Jewish people to find the right partner. It is said that in marriage on a spiritual level ‘god and his angles bring together two souls who were intended for each other before birth.’ For a Jewish person to find a partner they could go see the shadchan who will find the best partner for a Jew, sometimes parents see the shadchan and arrange for there child to be married but the child can refuse the partner if he or she doesn’t feel like it is the best partner for them. There are many places where Jews can go to find a partner like on the internet and organisations designed for Jews to meet other Jews. Most Jews find the need to marry other Jews because if they don’t it could end up with the child Jewish or not. If the child’s mother is Jewish and the father isn’t then the child would be Jewish but if the father is Jewish and the mother isn’t then the child would not be Jewish.
Topic: family

This could lead to marriage difficulties and maybe even divorce. Some Jewish people are getting concerned about other Jews that are ‘marrying out’, this is where a Jewish man marries a non – Jewish woman or vice versa. This is a problem because they are less likely to keep Jewish practises, more likely to divorce and there children might feel less Jewish and they might marry out as well. Jews believe that when you get married you leave your mother and father to be with his wife “a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24)
Topic: family

A Jewish wedding is celebrated in different ways but there are some factors that stay the same. One of these factors is the groom gives the wife a ring that is a plane metal band with no holes, engravings or gems and the ring which most belong to the groom. Also the Ketubah which is a marriage contract which dates back to the second century and is written in Aramaic. This contract spells out the right of the married woman to be supported and cherished by her husband. There also has to be 2 eligible witnesses to observe the ceremony which takes place under the huppah. There is about nine steps of a Jewish wedding and they are the veiling (bedeken), the procession, Circling the groom, blessings, giving of ring by groom, reading of the ketubah, seven blessings, breaking a glass and the couple retire. Only the giving of ring by groom, reading of the ketubah and the seven blessings are required by Jewish law and rest have grown out of tradition. The seven blessings are normally given by family and friends.