Demographics
The family I interviewed lives in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The parents have been married for eight years. The mother is 27 and the father is 39. The parents had three children together. All of the children were boys. Their ages were 17, 14, and 7. The oldest son and the youngest son live with the parents and the middle son lives with his real mother. The oldest son and middle son were from a previous marriage with the father. The youngest was the only child with both parents.
Relation to Class Material
Primary parenting functions has two broad categories which are structure and nurture (Bigner and Gerhardt 2014). Structure is the foundation that the parents laid for the children. Nurture is the unconditional love that the
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This family is a part of a blended family because the father remarried. The family had to overcome the complications with his first marriage because of the two older boys. The stepmother had a hard time with the boy’s mother and it was hard to become a stepmother. The stepmother never had children so she was unsure of having stepchildren. The reason for the couple to become parents to their third son was because the mother did not have any kids and she wanted one of her own. She wanted that feeling of unconditional love that mothers have for their children.
Relation to Family Systems Theory
In this theory there are four concepts which are; parenthood is a social construct, the relationship between parents and children is a subsystem of the larger social system that we call a family, parenting is bidirectional, and parenthood is a developmental role that can continue over the life span. First the role has a parent is to care for the children through valves, beliefs, norms, and behaviors. In the interview the parents taught the children this kind of things has the child aged. They taught norms and behaviors with some punishment which showed them what was acceptable and not acceptable. They taught valves and beliefs through letting the children
The role of nurturing parents in a family is an important factor that helps in the growing of personal independence and is the basis for emotional stability.
The family I chose to interview is a blended non-traditional family. There is a mother and her 6 kids. The kids come from two different guys that the gal was married to and a boyfriend that she has lived with in the past. The boyfriend still spends some nights with her.
Murray Bowen developed family systems theory. This transgenerational model looks at how a family’s history informs their present functioning. Today it is a prominent model used by today’s family and marriage mental health professionals. Derived from psychoanalytic thinking and sometimes called natural systems theory, it posits that families are living and evolving systems shaped by chronic anxiety transmitted through its generations. Anxiety is aroused when individuals attempt to balance their individual identity with being a part of a family. This balancing act inevitably causes anxiety, triggering biological coping responses instead of healthy cognition and reasoning (Goldenberg & Goldenberg, 2012). Erford
Since the 20th century, researchers have sought out solutions to help assist families and the individual components that make up family systems overcome the challenges and schisms that can inhibit individuation and stability. Two theoretical perspectives, the family-systems theory and the family-development theory, were conceived to gain as Balswick & Balswick (2014) noted, gain “a wide-angle view of family life” (p. 22). Though these two theories have merit, one I found to be more advantageous in gaining a better understanding of the family as an actively metastasizing organism, which needs to be approached more adaptively.
He claims that the child is born in a neutral state, with no needs until he/she interacts with the parents. By responding to the child’s behavior, the parents will determine the behavior and the character of the child. Parents have the power to bestow or withhold love in relation to their own peculiar needs for love. This creates dependency as the basic feature of the child’s existence. Parents are the first contact and relationship and play an essential role on the child’s development. Their actions and demeanor have a heavy impact on the way their offspring will relate to others, and develop future relationships.
A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.
Growing up, two group of people, parents, and grandparents, took the time and the energy to raise me. Both of them had different approaches when raising me. These approaches were different parenting styles. According to Baumrind, parenting style was the “[capturing] normal variations in parents’ attempts to control and socialize their children” (Darling, 1999). To put it simply, parenting style goal was to lecture, influence, and discipline a child. In general, there are four parenting styles with their own specific benefits and disadvantages. Furthermore, parenting style, granted the dynamic of the family was understood, can be identified in families.
The developmental model is when expectations of family members change to address challenges (Katz, 2015). During difficult times, family members may have to take on more or different roles to manage and get through the challenges. This is seen with the wife because she tries to act as a caretaker for her husband when he comes back. In the scene where the mother is trying to explain to the daughters why their father is behaving a certain way, she is trying to care for him by getting others to understand him. She did not expect that when he came back he would have to be taken care of in a different way, or that it would be difficult. They knew things would be different, so to adjust to it she filled the role that she felt her husband needed her to be. It was a challenge for him to come home and a challenge to adjust to him being back. By filling a role as his caretaker she is trying to ease him back into their daily lives. Also, while her husband was away, she had to learn to care for herself and to do things without him (Merolla, 2010). She was expected to be able to care for herself and her children without her husband to help her. However the uncle stepped in and became a temporary husband and father, meaning that the wife now had to adjust to a new man in this role in her life. When her husband did come back, she had to try to relearn allowing him to do things that she would normally take
When looking at family systems, you must begin by looking at Murray Bowen’s family systems theory and “his views on the eight interlocking forces that shape family function,” (Haefner, 2014). Within Bowen’s family psychotherapy research, he noted that “family patterns and problems often repeat over generations, he also noted that families make up their own emotional systems, and within these systems they try to maintain stability and reduce conflict,” (Haefner, 2014). The eight interlocking forces noted by Bowen through (Haefner, 2014)
The family structure is made up of individuals living together in intimate groups with the purpose of caring and supporting each other. Rules and boundaries, spoken and unspoken, are developed by the family members. Family rules and boundaries change and shift over time in order to evolve and grow as a family unit. Some changes are subtle, but some events force major change within the family system. This paper applies the concepts of systems theory to the family system in the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Reese Witherspoon (Melanie Smooter) and Josh Lucas (Jake Perry) star in this heart-warming film telling a story of a young woman who flees from Alabama to reinvent herself in New York City as a high fashion designer. She leaves behind her redneck husband and white-trash upbringing. Melanie finds herself engaged to the cities most eligible bachelor and has to return to Alabama to request a divorce from her first love and confront her past ("Alabama," 2002).
According to Richard Charles (2001) “the effectiveness of family systems theory rests not much on empirical research but on clinical reports of positive treatment outcomes, the personal benefits experienced by the families that underwent this kind of treatment, and the elegance of Bowen’s theory” (p. 279). Bowen’s family systems theory views the family as an emotional unit and is a theory of human behavior. Systems thinking are used to describe the complex interactions in the unit. However, the client’s ability to differentiate himself/herself from the family of origin is the basis for Bowen’s family systems theory. In addition, the primary focus for growth within the emotional system is differentiation of self. Differentiation of self will be explored as well as how it relates to a church congregation.
This essay addresses seeks to evaluates diverse parenting approach by a parent-child observation. From observing developmentally appropriate and inappropriate interactions with the parent and child, I will learn how parents teach, guide, and influence their children. First, I will briefly describe basic Information of the child and parent that I have observed. Next I will discuss the parent experience with transitioning to Parenthood. Throughout the essay, I will be discussing the parenting goals and beliefs, parenting challenges and reflecting on parenting from the parent perspectives. Lastly, I will discussing my observation from the parent and child interactions.
Families make us who we are. From our families we learn communication skills, emotions and how to form relationships. Murray Bowen developed the Bowen family systems theory. The Bowen family systems theory provides the opportunity to learn about complex family relationships and emotional relationships. The Bowen family systems theory can be integrated with religion and spirituality. Everyone can relate the Bowen family systems theory. I can integrate my personal experiences with concepts from the Bowen family systems theory.
Children are the future of the world and need to be nurtured and educated in the best conditions. Thus, parenting is one of the most challenging and admirable responsibilities that people can experience. Parenting plays important roles in the development of children’s characteristics. Some people nurture children depending on their own ways. Others get advice from friends or books. Parenting can be divided into three groups: authoritative, permissive, and democratic parenting.
middle of paper ... ... In the traditional society, the father’s only focus is on earning an income for the family which has a direct impact on the family members due to the lack of time spent bonding with his children and wife. The responsibility of the children falls on both parents’ shoulders, not just on the mothers. However, this is also an issue in modern society, if mothers rely too much on day-care and do not spend enough time with their children, then the same thing that happens to the father happens to the mother.