My Family Essay

My family is composed of my father, mother, a younger sister, an older sister, who unfortunately passed away, and myself. I grew up being the oldest child, for my oldest sister passed away before I was born. Although, I never got to meet my older sister her absence has taught me to value the importance of family.

What is a family? How are families shaped and what effect do they have on society? In the United States a family consists of both parents, one’s self, siblings (biological or adoptive) and extended family members; however, this is not the case around the world. The concept of family and who is family changes in each culture, but is mostly centered around who is kin and who a person marries. Family, kin, and marriage are established through how society decides their lineage, which establishes cultural rituals within the society.

Depending on their cultural background, many families will often have different understandings or ideas of what a family is and how it should be structured.

     The 1950’s were a decade of growth and expansion. Growth of the middle class, expansion of religion and a growing economy kept Americans on the move- literally. Families were moving from the cities and into the suburbs. “This massive shift in population from the central city was accompanied by a baby boom that started during World War II. Young married couples began to have three, four, or even five children (compared with only one or two children in American families during the 1930’s) (The American Story, pg. 729). This style of living began making the immediate

I believe my family can best be described as a nuclear family, with minor differences. For example, both of my parents work, so my father isn’t necessarily the “breadwinner” of the household. Also, the definition of nuclear family doesn’t specifically state how each family member should act. For example, I live at home

My family structure growing up was not technically traditional. My family consist of my mom, my dad, and two older brothers. My parents are divorced so I have a single-parent family.

As I endured the prospect of creating a genogram, I allowed myself to reflect and interpret the history and impacts that affected my family. During my review of my genogram, I was able to consider my family within a multigenerational, diverse, and socio-political context. By creating a genogram, a dialogue was started within my head and with my partner about which family traits, issues, strengths, and resiliencies made me who I am today. Subsequently, this dialogue made me aware that being raised in a small family has many advantages along with some disadvantages when acquiring information about influences and the history of preceding generations. Consequently, I did not have to contend with many conflicting recollections but I did have to rely mostly on my own memory, public records, and journals to piece together my genogram. Although all things discovered and recollected are not always fortunate on the surface, they subsist as basis to my personal resilience and strength as a gay man.

I am a family man. Three years ago, after the birth of my daughter, if anyone ever asked me who my family was I would have said my wife, my daughter and myself.  On further questioning, I would have included my parents, siblings and others of the same blood lineage. (Can you change the introduction please?) But now I realize that family means more, requires more and never stops evolving; and my own evolution has led me to choose the discipline of Family Practice.

Determining family structure and dynamics as well as defining the family is a complex process. Personally, I come from a very traditional family. Much like the assumptions made by the students in the article Defining Family: Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Parent-Child Bond by Mellisa Holtzman (2008). This is what comes to mind when most people define family; a nuclear family, with married parents, and biological children. However, a family is a complex system and can take on many different forms.

In terms of numbers there are typically around 70 to 80 members. What my family is like is something I don’t know how to describe because we live long distances, but from going back to Vietnam 4 years ago and getting to see the families I used to be around 15 years ago; they are always happy, hard-working and caring. As for my parents they are relax sometime and sometime difficult to understand because of the demands they want from me because it’s the Vietnamese culture they’re taught and raised in by their parents and siblings. In brief, my family is traditional and the elders are demanding to their offspring and I am demanded a lot from my parents to be successful and don’t be a burden in society.

My family consists of five people. My dad, Brian, mom, Mary, and my brothers Ben(11) and Jack(6). My dad's family all have a blood connection. He and my aunt, Lisa,share the same blood. On the other hand my mom's family are not all blood related. Both my mom and uncle, John, were adopted as babies from Minnesota. My family doesn't have any blood relations either. My brothers and I were adopted from Bogota, Colombia as

My family was made up of my dad, mom, and brother. The extended family was large two grandmothers, one great-grandmother, one grandfather, one great-grandfather, eight aunts, nine uncles, and countless cousins. My parents were married a year after my brother

My family is larger than the typical nuclear family. I have a mother, father, and older brother like a ‘normal’ urban family, but I also have two older sisters, with a third sister younger than me. Even though there is

Family means many things to different people, yet the word itself can bring about a host of emotions from anyone who hears the word uttered. As a child growing up in the 60s and 70s the family dynamic was defined by the people we grew up with were related to by blood, and extended to the many family members of the different generations that made up the family unit.

No one can’t meet a family like mine’s. My family is well diversified. Every family member plays an important role in all my family’s lives. In my family, there are four people: my father, my mother, my little brother and me. My father is one who brings money home and is also responsible for organizing and planning family trips. My mother is the one who is in charge for making meals and makes sure everyone eats at the appropriate times. My little brother is the pet of the family. He actually doesn’t have any responsibilities, for he’s the pet. I am the rock of support in my family. I always go beyond my parents’ expectations. I also support my younger cousins and little brother, by being a role model that they can look up to. Another