Family Theory
Family
A family is a unity of two parents, a male, and a female coming together to raise children as a unit. There are different types of families like the nuclear and extended family. A family undergoes different phases with diverse family members. After marriage, the family starts becoming big because children are born or adopted. After some time, the children in the family later become adults and leave the parents alone. Such occurs, especially when the parents retire and are on a pension. At the start, my family had only dad and mom, and that is the first section. Later in the section, we were born together with my two sisters. In the drawings, I included my dad, mom, my two sisters and me.
Family change over time
Before, the family used to have dad and mom, but after some months, I was born. Later my two younger sisters were also born. Today we are a big family with five members. My sisters are in 12th grade. Dad used to work in Miami, but now he works in Chicago.
What stage of the family life cycle was your family in during each time? Which developmental tasks were most important?
When my parents got married, the family was in stage 1, which is the establishment stage. At this level, they had to commit themselves to work more to ensure that they get adequate resources for the family. They later moved to stage 2, which is the childbearing stage. My sisters and I became new members of the family. Children came with demands for more resources and hence financial needs (Stephens, 2016). The parents had to involve themselves in bringing us up and sharing responsibilities. After stage 2, the family moved to stage 3, thus becoming a family with preschoolers. I was the first one to join the school where my sisters joined five years later. At this stage, the parents would have to accommodate the differences in us as children (Stephens, 2016). There was an increase in financial demand at this level. Still, the family encountered Stage 4, which is a family with school-aged children. At this stage, the parents would give authority to the schools we were, and they wanted to know what we were learning. They created relationships with the teachers and other parents. They had determined expectations for us. The family later moved to stage five, which is a family with adolescents. At this stage, we were changing to adulthood as young adolescents. Everyone felt that they needed their space, and we would frequently differ with our parents.
Reflect on your family’s “timing”. Was your family “on-time” or “off-time”?
Different families have different timings, thus affecting intergenerational structure and responsibilities. My mother was young when she bore me, and hence my family was on time.
References
Stephens, E. (2016).YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ZN_5nMQfDFw
Stephens, E.(2016).YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN_5nMQfDFw