W12 Child & Family Advocacy

 *Look into Public Citizen website

*Find the Upside of Irrationality

Jennifer Aaker, Ph.D., one of the authors of The Dragonfly Effect: "The goal is not to find happiness but to create an environment that would enable happiness."

• On pages 361–362, the authors list six reasons for getting involved. Did you notice that most of them are primarily motivated by self-interest? What do you think are the best reasons to become involved in your community? (We will address this issue of motivation at the end of Lesson 13.)

• Which social issues impacting children and families that we have covered this semester can be addressed at the community level? How so?

• What is being done in your community and in others around your country to address topic(s) from your previous assignments (in other words, The Formation of Sociological Trends, Fathering Social Issues, Family Research Synthesis Paper, Persuasive Blog Article, Family Law & Policy Speech)?
• What do you think should be done?
• How much of local advocacy should be prevention and how much reparation?

Ecology of the Community- Chapter 10: ... Psychologically, humans need companionship and the emotional security that comes from belonging to a social group whose members share the same ideas and patterns of behavior. Practically, humans need to cooperate with others in order to share in the necessities of life—food, shelter, and security

....For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts… states of character are formed by doing the corresponding acts. (Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book 1, Ch. 1)

....Learned helplessness,  is a sense of apathy that develops when people perceive that they have no control over events, that their actions no longer influence outcomes.

...population composition refers to the rate of population turnover (if high, effects children's socialization)

NAFFA’s incredible success among the Native American people is not simply due to the curriculum itself. The core principles they teach to fathers, mothers, and families are

• Acknowledging a Higher Power (Creator)
• The freedom to act for oneself (Choice)
• Humility in discovering truth (Teachable)
• Moral conduct and life experience (Wisdom)
• Getting outside of oneself (Service)

*The closest Children's Advocacy Center in Idaho is in Boise. CACs bring together, often in one location, child protective services investigators, law enforcement, and medical and mental health providers.

*Spend more time on https://homefront.unitedfamilies.org/

>REMEMBER https://www.familyproclamationproject.org/background

>Spend more time on educateempowerkids.org

>Look into social entrepreneur

>Find Happiness is Miserable: Here's Why

• Even though the focus of Elder Bednar's talk, To Sweep The Earth as With a Flood, is focused on sharing the gospel, how is digitally advocating for marriage, children, and families the same as sharing the gospel?

• Identify which social media outlets you visited first. Then, share: do you agree or disagree with the argument made? What were some of its strengths and weaknesses? Use the above readings as a barometer.
• What evidence was left out that could have helped to further reinforce the argument? What made it persuasive?
• How well did the macro-advocacy you selected do at hitting each of the four dragonfly wings in The Dragonfly EffectLinks to an external site.? 
• How well did the macro-advocacy you selected do at hitting each of the four principles in Sweep the EarthLinks to an external site.? 

The Dragonfly Effect: Even more interestingly, in a study of more than forty-seven hundred people who were followed over twenty years, researchers reveal that happiness really is contagious: people who are happy (or become happy) significantly boost the chances that their friends will become happy; and the power of happiness can span up to two more degrees of separation, improving the mood of that person’s husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, and even friend’s friends. Further, these contagious effects have a lasting impact. One individual’s happiness can affect another’s for as much as a year. That happiness is more sustained than that which comes from a momentary financial gain. As James Fowler, coauthor of the study, explains, “If your friend’s friend becomes happy, that has a bigger impact on your being happy than putting an extra $5,000 in your pocket.”

... human beings are said to have at least three basic needs in terms of their sense of self-worth: competence (feeling that we are effective and able), autonomy (feeling that we are able to dictate our own behavior), and relatedness (feeling that we are connected to others).13 To the extent that a personal or professional goal does not address these basic needs, the rewards of achieving that goal might be perceived as transient or lacking.14 In other words, getting what we want is disappointing when we aren’t wanting what will actually make us happy. 

...consumers with the goal of “becoming happy” or “getting happier,” but that they rarely attain that goal through their purchases... The results of a recent experiment showed that spending money on others has a positive impact on happiness— much more so than spending money on oneself.17 This was striking given that the participants thought personal spending would make them happier than spending on someone else. Eudemonia, or fundamental happiness, is the result of an active life governed by intrinsic meaning, self-sacrifice, and self-improvement. Although it all sounds a little sanctimonious (and conjures images of Gandhi and Mother Teresa), the rewards of bettering the welfare of others have been illustrated by research too many times to simply ignore. The good news is that all of this research is simple to put into practice. Increasing (and sustaining) your happiness is possible—even easy—if you focus on others (rather than yourself) and on time (rather than money). Research has shown that even thinking about money can have a negative impact on happiness, but that focusing on time increases happiness because it increases interactions and connections with others

Julia's young women's cleaned parks

woman standing on corner with tiny baby is child abuse. called cops.

communities don't always have time to help homeless with mental disorders.

veterans

Optional Readings

Get Informed, Get InvolvedLinks to an external site.. In today’s world, Latter-day Saints need to become well informed so they can speak up and engage intelligently in causes that concern them.

Read Come to ZionLinks to an external site., by Elder D. Todd Christofferson. While studying his talk, look for connections between the chapter you just read and some of Elder Christofferson’s suggestions to create more Zion-like communities, wards, and stakes. For example, he states the following:

“The Prophet Joseph Smith said, ‘We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object’ (Teachings: Joseph Smith, 186). In our families and in our stakes and districts, let us seek to build up Zion through unity, godliness, and charity, preparing for that great day when Zion, the New Jerusalem, will arise.”

• How can you help build society through unity, godliness, and charity, and what kind of impact might it have? This was just an illustration of a connection. What others do you see?