Picking Apart YW Lesson, "Attitudes About Our Divine Roles"

Sooo, I was looking on Sugardoodle to find some cute little handouts to maybe print and put with the cute little rocks that I made, and I stumbled across this cute little lesson that was in one of the old YW lesson manuals they had before updating them this year.

(I think they got rid of these lesson manuals because girls like me were tired of being told our lives had to revolve around cooking, cleaning, and makin' babies by a bunch of older people of the male gender, but still! They only got rid of them last year... And I remember these lessons, all right.)

Lesson 8: Attitudes about Our Divine Roles

  Ooh hoo. Let's see how my attitude's gonna look when I'm finished with this. 

 http://www.lds.org/manual/young-women-manual-1/lesson-8-attitudes-about-our-divine-roles?lang=eng

 

"Point out that we can have positive or negative attitudes about our divine roles of wife and mother. Some look at these roles as being demeaning and full of drudgery, but our roles are actually a part of a solemn promise that we made before we came to earth. They are part of the blessings that come to us as daughters of God."

 Oh please. Go on.

“We committed ourselves to our Heavenly Father, that if He would send us to the earth and give us bodies and give to us the priceless opportunities that earth life afforded, we would keep our lives clean and would marry in the holy temple and would rear a family and teach them righteousness. This was a solemn oath, a solemn promise” (“Be Ye Therefore Perfect,” address given at the Salt Lake Institute of Religion, 10 Jan. 1975, p. 2).

What roles did we promise to Heavenly Father that we would accept before we came to earth? (We would marry and have a family.)"

So, in other words, I "promised" I would get married? I made an "oath"? I'm not liking how this is panning out.

 "Point out that the worldly view of women’s roles is false partly because it is selfcentered. It focuses so much on a woman’s rights to receive that it almost ignores her opportunities to give. The Lord’s view is a broader one. It focuses on the opportunities of both men and women to love and serve. This view can help us avoid being caught up in selfishness and unhappiness."

So if I wanted to go to school and have a career and stick my kids in daycare while I work, that would be considered "SELFISH"? I would be "SELF-CENTERED"? And who says I can't find opportunities to "give" if I decided to have a career? I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean in this context, or how it has anything to do with working. We can't all be sitting at home all day making cookies to give to our neighbors all the time.

 Explain that if we believe that life as a wife and mother is routine and boring, it will be. But if we can understand our divine purposes and realize the great potential we have, our role will take on greater meaning than any other task in this world. By cheerfully and enthusiastically supporting our husbands and by bearing, nurturing, and teaching righteous spirits, we can experience the greatest fulfillment."

 So by changing my attitude, I can psych myself out of thinking that cooking all the time and changing diapers can be fun? Okay, I'm really sorry. I'm using WAY too much sarcasm for this. And I know that being a mom can be really awesome and fun, but still. It's kind of hard to change pre-concieved notions by "trying to change your attitude". Does the church offer cognitive behavioral therapy, too?

Okay, the way the last sentence is worded... You can't experience the greatest fulfillment by doing other things, too? Only by having kids, taking care of kids, and teaching them? I'm not saying that's a bad thing, and I'm not saying that you can't get any fulfillment from doing that but still... And I definitely agree with the part of supporting your husband, but that's funny. It doesn't say anything about him supporting you. Now, I KNOW that I'm just being picky with the wording, but that would be nice if the put a little bit of the "equal perspective" in it.

"How can the teachings of the Lord and his servants about our roles help protect us from the dangers of adoption worldly attitudes?" 

 Again. Please see one of the paragraphs above stating why I definitely do not believe that the so-called "world's role" is self-centered and selfish. And OH MY GOSH. I don't think I'm being protected from the "dangers" of believing that it's okay to work and not be a mom. Apparently the teachings of a bunch of older, male individuals telling me how to live my life as a female haven't been sticking in my mindset quite that well.

"A woman should never minimize the tremendous power of being a comfort and help to her husband. He may have need to be comforted and encouraged to perform his roles as husband, provider, leader, or teacher."

That's great, but WHAT ABOUT US? And they're automatically assuming he's the provider. And if I'm reading that in the right context, the leader. Of the family........

“Young women should plan and prepare for marriage and the bearing and rearing of children. It is your divine right and the avenue to the greatest and most supreme happiness” (“Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Ensign, Nov. 1978, p. 103).

Okay. Prepare for marriage? How, pray tell? Dating? Please be specific. Preparing for "rearing" (who even uses that word anymore?), probably babysitting or changing diapers or something. And prepare for bearing children??? Not exactly sure how you would do that, either. Okay, I was going to say something else, but my [mostly seemingly broken] filter in my brain was setting off its alarm. Aaaanyways, moving on. Having and raising kids is the only way to the greatest and most supreme happiness? Oookay, I'm the kind of person who would definitely want to get married and have kids someday, but what about those who just don't see that as an option? They won't be able to experience their own kind of the greatest joy and happiness? *sigh*.

Bobby McFerrin is singing in my head right now, "Don't worry, be happy!" I think we should all follow his advice, no matter what kind of life we lead, no matter if we have kids or not, no matter if we're married or not.