Transcript Your Family Ties Chapter 19

Your Family Ties
Lesson 8
Key Terms
 Nuclear family
 Single-parent family
 Blended family
 Extended family
 Inter generational
 Nurture
 Socialization
 Family life cycle
 Support system
Objectives
 Compare different family forms.
 Explain the primary functions of families.
 Describe the traditional family life cycle and its
variations.
 Assess the effects of current social trends on
family life.
 Give examples of ways to strengthen families.
Families Today
 All families share certain things in common,
such as the basic responsibility of caring for
their members.
 When you think about families you know,
you can probably recognize several different
forms of families.
Families Today continued
 The most basic family form is the nuclear
family, consisting of a husband , wife and
their children.
 A single parent family is headed by one
parent.
 Some single parents have never been
married; some are widowed.
Families Today continued
 Most single-parent families, however are
formed when parents are separated or
divorced from one another.
 If a single parent remarries, a blended
family is formed.
 Blended families can include children of
each spouse, plus new children of the
couple.
Families Today continued
 There may be variations within these family
forms. For example, children may join the
family by either birth or adoption.
 Some families, include foster children who
have been temporarily placed in their care.
Families Today continued
 The extended family is a larger family group-not
only your parents and siblings but also your
grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
 The family that includes children, parents, and
one or more grandparents living under the same
roof might be referred to as inter generational,
since it includes three generations.
Family functions
 Throughout history and in every society,
families have served an important purpose.
 They nurture family members by providing
the care and attention needed to promote
development.
Family functions continued
 Families provide the structure in which
children learn to become independent and
to live successfully in society.
 The characteristics and qualities of these
new adults influence what society as a
whole is like.
Meeting Physical Needs
 The most basic responsibility of families is
to provide for family member’s physical
needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter.
 Infants and young children are entirely
dependent on the physical care provided by
families.
Meeting Physical Needs
 At times, others in the family may also need
special physical care due to an illness, accident,
or disability.
 Physical needs include responsibility for health
and safety.
 Parents must make certain their children eat
nutritious foods and receive appropriate health
care.
Meeting Physical Needs
 Parents also need to set rules for children to
keep them safe and teach them responsible
behavior.
Promoting Intellectual Development
 The family is a child’ first teacher- sharing
knowledge, stimulating thinking, and encouraging
creativity.
 Parents, siblings, and other family members can
all help a young child learn.
 Even after the child is in school, the family needs
to remain actively involved in his or her learning.
 Parents can learn from children, too.
 Such as a child helping their parent use a
computer.
Meeting emotional needs
 Families nurture an emotional development
by showing love and acceptance.
 Being loved and accepted by your family
helps you develop a positive self-image and
high self-esteem.
 It enables you to show love and affection for
others.
Meeting emotional needs
 Families also teach children how to express
their emotions in acceptable ways.
 In a strong family, emotional bonds last a
lifetime.
 Whenever family members are facing
difficulties, they feel confident their family
will be willing to listen and help.
Encouraging Social Skills
 The process of socialization begins in the
family.
 Socialization means learning how to interact
with other people.
 The family teaches basic social skills such as
communication, cooperation, and respect
for others.
Encouraging Social Skills
 The social skills that children learn in the family
carry over into their other relationships
throughout life.
 Some social skills are taught directly, such as
when parents teach young children to say
“please” and “thank you”.
 More often, children learn social skills by
observing and following the examples set by
others.
Encouraging Social Skills
 Even very young children pay attention to
how adults in the family interact with each
other and with people outside the family.
 Everything children hear or see-words, tone
of voice, body language-helps form their
idea of appropriate behavior.
 That’s why being a good role model is such
an important parental responsibility.
Instilling Moral Values
 Families help children develop values that
will be a basis for their actions and decisions
throughout life.
 Children need to learn the importance of
honesty, respect, fairness and other values .
 Individuals and society benefit when people
have a healthy sense of right and wrong.
Instilling Moral Values
 As with social skills, families teach moral
values both directly and by example.
 With very young children, teaching focuses
on behavior.
 Two year olds follow the rules because it
helps them get what they want.
Instilling Moral Values
 When they are older , they learn the reasons
for the rules.
 By age ten or twelve, children have learned
to show respect and consideration for
others.
The Family Life Cycle
The Family Life Cycle
 Family researchers know that families go
through a process of growth and change
over the years.
 They name this process the Family life
Cycle.
 The life cycle model can’t reflect all
variations, but it does give a general picture
of how families must adapt to changing
situations and priorities.
The Family Life Cycle
 Beginning Stage:
 Two people marry
 Establish a home and learn to live together
 Priorities include:
 building their relationship
 working out their respective roles
 setting goals for the future.
The Family Life Cycle
 Parenting Stage:
 Couple becomes parents
 Priorities focus on raising children
 Have less time for activities as a couple
The Family Life Cycle
 Launching Stage:
 Children begin to leave home and become
independent.
 They must adjust to new responsibilities.
 Parents must learn to relate to them as
adults.
The Family Life Cycle
 Middle –age stage:
 Children leave home
 Parents have more time to focus on being
a couple again.
 Reassess their careers,
 Take up new hobbies
 Become involved with community
 Preparing for retirement
The Family Life Cycle
 Retirement stage:
 Retirement gives more time for leisure
activities.
 Travel
 Move to smaller home/retirement
community.
 Health and independence are major
concerns.
Other situations…..
 Some couples don’t have children.
 Some marry and become parents later in life
 Stages may overlap
 Divorce and remarriage cause families to
repeat certain stages.
 Some people of retirement age keep
working and perhaps even start new
careers.
Trends Affecting Families
 Every family experiences changes and many of the
changes result from social trends.
 Here are some of the trends affecting family life today:
 Roles and responsibilities
 Traditional model:
 Father earned the family income
 Mother took care of the home and family
 In today’s society usually both parents work and
share responsibilities.
Trends Affecting Families
 Smaller families
 Long ago:
 average number of children was seven
 large families were necessary for helping with
the farm.
 Today many couples:
 postpone or pass up having children.
 Average number of children per family is
currently less than two.
Trends Affecting Families
 Divorce and remarriage:
 Compared to 50 years ago, more
marriages today end in divorce.
 When people with children remarry,
everyone in the blended family must
adjust to new relationships.
Trends Affecting Families
 Single-parent households:
 Most of these are headed by women, although
the percentage headed by men is increasing.
 Single parents face the challenge of raising
their children alone while working to support
the family.
 Having the sole responsibility makes it hard
for the parent to spend time with friends or
build new relationships.
Trends Affecting Families
 Longer Life Spans
 People are living longer than in the past.
 They are healthier and active
 Many adults are the primary care givers
for both their aging parents and their own
children.
 These folks are referred to as the
“Sandwich Generation”
Trends Affecting Families
 Increase mobility
 Today families are highly mobile.
 Most common reason to move is job
change or promotion.
 Major disadvantage is being separated
from the extended family.
Trends Affecting Families
 Advances in technology
 Cell phones, emails, instant messaging
makes it easier for families to stay
connected.
 Technology has helped many people have
the opportunity to work out of their
home.
Trends Affecting Families
 Downfall
 Spending more time on electronic
entertainment leaves less time for real
family interaction.
Strong Family Elements
 Respect
 Communication
 Trust
 Emotional Support
 Sharing
 Support Systems
Strong Family Elements
 Respect:
People in strong families respect each
other’s abilities, needs, and opinions, even
if they don’t share them.
 They accept and appreciate their
differences.

Strong Family Elements
 Other ways to show respect
 Listen to and consider others’ points of view.
 Follow rules your family sets for you.
 Ask before you borrow someone else’s
property.
 Give others the privacy they need.
 Be considerate of others’ feelings.
 Avoid negative comments.
Strong Family Elements
 Communication
 Effective communication is basic to all
relationships and family relationship are no
exception.
 Schedules and plans have to be made therefore
communication is a must.
 It is impossible to develop closeness without
open, honest communications.
 Ways for families to communicate:
 Post your schedule on a board
 Have family meetings
Strong Family Elements
 Trust
 When there’s trust you can count on your
family’s help and support.
 Parents trust teens to do what they are
supposed to do, even when the parents are not
around to enforce the rules.
 Building trust in families is a two-way street.
 If you want your parents to give you their
trust, you must show them that you are
trustworthy.
Strong Family Elements
 Emotional Support
 Emotional support includes words and actions
that are positive and reassuring.
 When people face challenging situations and
need confidence, knowing that someone
believes in them makes a difference.
 You can show emotional support in little ways
everyday.
Strong Family Elements
Sharing
 Sharing is one of the first lessons that
children learn, and it remains an
important tool for strengthening family
ties.
 One way of sharing is to work together
toward common goals.
Strong Family Elements
 Dividing responsibilities helps a family
function efficiently and lets everyone
make a contribution.
 Family traditions can help create a sense of
shared identity and history.
 Simply to spend time with family is
perhaps the most important way of
sharing.
Strong Family Elements
 Support Systems
 A support system consists of all the people
and organizations a family can turn to for
help.
 Having a support system is especially
important when challenging situations
occur.
Strong Family Elements
 A support system usually starts with the
extended family
 Then the community can also be a resource
you can depend on.
 Schools and places of worship are also a part
of the support system that a family may
need to use.
Your Role of The Family
 As a teen in the family your responsibilities
may be changing.
 You may be expected to help more around
the house.
 At the same time you may also be more
active in obligations outside of the home.
Your Role of The Family
 Finding time to balance the family and
friends can be challenging.
 You will need to find time to plan ahead so
that you can continue to be involved with
family matters.
 Strong families are the foundations to strong
communities.