Benefits of Friendship

In the article “Families” by Andersen and Taylor, the authors take an in-depth look at the subject of families, the foundations of families, the evolution of families over time, and the growing changes society has done to the institution of family. They clarified extensively how families today are not just blood related. They can be composed of adoptive relatives, step siblings and roommates who might share the same household with you. The authors point out how there are many ways of finding families in today’s society. Some families live with the typical mother and father, but others live with their grandparents, only one parent, parents of the same-sex and parents whom are not legally married. This growing changes to families is evicted

In today’s society, family is often attempted to be organized within a social structure. Within this structure family typically is consisted of mom, dad, daughter, and son. However, many families do not fit into this configuration. These families may include same sex couples, separated or divorced families, extended families, or even blended families. Even though these families may be happy and healthy, to many they are not considered real families. Going along with the topic of imperfect families, both Barbara Kingsolver and Richard Rodriguez try to break down the traditional family structure through their writing. While Kingsolver’s “Stone Soup” and Rodriguez’s “Family Values” explore the ideas of different family structures and traditional American values, “Stone Soup” breaks down what an actual family is like while “Family Values” expresses the value of family in different cultures.

Close friends often have a major impact on the choices that people make. A close

Prior to enrolling in American Families at The University of Mount Union, I had a predisposition to what I perceived a perfect family looked like. I envisioned a nuclear family with parents who are madly in love and children who thrive from tremendous emotional support. After weeks of studying the

Most families are complicated but supportive. For example, a family could argue a lot, but still love one another. In Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” mama still supports her daughters even though, they’re not around much. Their issues are not unique because my family has its issues, too. The family in “Everyday Use” and my family both have similarities and differences regarding siblings, bonds, and mothers.

Family, is a word that is familiar to everyone, but may have different meanings for each individual. It is most commonly seen as a group consisting of parents and children. Family can be defined not just through blood but through love and commitment as well. In our readings this semester,

One word to describe family is team. Relating to a sports team, there will be players who struggle with getting along, but it doesn’t take long to realize that the team will not work if everyone doesn’t figure out a way to compromise with all the diverse personalities they’ve got. With family comes struggle and disappointment but that will only to an increased relationship of love and loyalty. No matter what it is, when family struggles and starts to see the family bond weaken it only opens their eyes to how much they need each other. Struggle leads to sadness which leads to loneliness and from that people need someone to rely on. Whether or not their struggles be with family sometimes they are too private and too personal for friends, so they lean back on family. In the book The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama she portrays a message similar to this throughout the entire book.

Happy Days Remember that old television show" Happy Days?” Well, when I was in the fifth grade I remember thinking, "My family is like ‘Happy Days’." We were happy and there was plenty of laughter and love to go around. Furthermore, like the television show, there were plenty of struggles and some kind of dilemma to solve before the night was over. No matter the problems the day may have brought, I always went to bed feeling happy, safe, and loved. Unlike the majority of kids in my fifth-grade class with broken homes, I just knew that my parents would be together forever. After reading Bradshaw on: The Family by John Bradshaw, I can see now that I may not have had a perfect family.

The idea of family is something that most people strive to have, and they travel amazing journeys and make difficult sacrifices in order to maintain the integrity of their family. The bonds of family can motivate a person to make large changes for the betterment of their family. In many cases a person will sever a piece of their self in order to maintain the integrity of their family. People will go through great lengths to maintain their families, as is evident in “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, “Babylon Revisited” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and “Intervention” by Jill McCorkle.

The second chapter, of the book “Family Interaction”, focuses on the theme of family strategies and boundaries. While reading, I noticed that my family has similarities and dissimilarities with other family members. Several topics that interested me were open and closed boundaries, and maintenance resources. My family is enmeshed and

Families - whether they are big or small - have different social norms and interact with each other very differently. Some families are very open with each other, while others are very closed. A change within a family unit has an effect on the family’s dynamic and how the family members interact with each other. American culture reflects this in the belief that families are changed either positively or negatively by major emotional events.

Introduction How does one define family? Throughout our readings, we find ourselves learning the ideas of theorist, concepts, and definitions to help us define and describe what family is. The family could possibly be what or who we say they are, or in simpler Bozett’s term, who the patient says it is! (Plumer, 2010). A family could consist possibly of values, roles, communication, environment, and relationships. Families may transition through all of these principles that either unites them or tears them apart. For instance, the movie Mrs. Doubtfire portrays these perceptions of what family is when family processes are shifted within a household. We will now discuss in more detail of the family assessment found throughout the movie starring the Hillards.

Values of Connectedness and Differentiated Self My family has always been very close. We spend a great deal of time together and express our deep feelings and emotions with one another. If one of us has an issue, every member of the family is aware of it and shares the burden. When a person in the family does not share significant information about one’s life with the rest of the members, there is hurt feelings. Also, if a member cannot attend a family event, the family feels disappointed and misses the absent member. It is evident that connectedness is held as extremely valuable.

My own personal experience plays a part here as I don’t believe my family was ever “fully actualized.” Independence and autonomy was stressed, however, warmth and connectedness between members was not. Feelings were definitely suppressed in my household growing up, and even today sharing openly feels awkward. Whitaker, as well as Satir, has inspired my theoretical framework because I see the importance of the affective or emotional layer of family interactions.

The Positivity impact of friendship and social habits There is really no crime in considering every human being as one, both the blacks and the whites. There are some things that can’t be achieved when we do not unite within ourselves and create a meaningful bond. Robert Hansel stated that “I cannot, and would not judge, by what my eyes may see. For the skin on a man cannot identify his true Identity”. Discrimination today isn’t deliberate, but let’s give it a careful thought; it’s actually not meant to be because whatever we have in our minds we exhibit. Segregation can be defined as the isolation of a race, class or ethnic group by enforced or voluntary residence in a restricted area by barrier to social intercourse by discriminatory means (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Friendship should be cherished because we definitely don’t know where we would end up, either a direct friend or a friend of a friend. We could develop ourselves by being aware of things that are new around us i.e. getting acquainted with people and knowing how to accommodate people around us. We should know that no one has the responsibility to think for us, we own our decision and our rights, we have the right to do whatever we want to do and where and how we want to do it. But the period of the 1950s this Act wasn’t in reality because of the pessimistic behavior, lack of courage and determination that was exhibited by the Blacks while the Whites exhibited lack of love and trust. This behavior act was abolished with the help of Rosa Parks’, Martin Luther King.Jr, and Mr. E.D Nixon, Clifford Durr, when they decided to do a movement on the issue Black segregation in the Montgomery Bus Boycott Movement. Studies have shown that people do not have issues responding to the issues of people that they do not know, but one thing they know for sure is that once a friend is insulted they are available to support that friend.