Personal Reflection Essay

Family is “one of the most important aspects of what happens to us over the life course.” (Vissing, 2011)

Although families may not always feel this connectedness, it is always there. The emotional climate of the family is interdependent of what is going on in the family as a whole. If one unit of the family is distant emotionally, it can have a great affect on the whole family. These attitudes are reciprocated throughout the entire family. It is important that most family members are able to stay healthy emotionally and have that ability to communicate their feelings to one another. Problems arise when individuals don’t fulfill their roles that are needed from all family members. Michael Kerr, explained this idea in an article he wrote to explain the family system theory. He explained that “heightened tension can intensify these processes that promote that promote unity and teamwork, and this can lead to problems” (Kerr,

Both Andrew and his biological mother indicated that they often do not seek help from their external systems, which indicates that there are some rigid boundaries. Minuchin argues that rigid boundaries present in family dynamics can become an obstacle when exploring alternate solutions and lead to family dysfunction (Tuner, 2011). Families need to maintain a healthy balance and consistency to successfully maintain both adaptability and a sense of order while promoting change and growth within their members (Tuner, 2011). According to Greene (2008), families that have positive and dynamic interactions with the external systems have effective communication and internal

Above is a podcasts take on family relations and dynamics, in this podcast it was revealed the functions of having family, friends, acquaintances and other people around you, and how they can affect the dynamics of your relationships. The reason why I chose this podcast, as an emphasis in my final research paper is how it demonstrates the truth of family and relationship dynamics can affect your inner circle of close people. I used this podcast on my own self and it was as if I was able to look at the full picture of my friends, family, acquaintances, or coworkers. This revelation was astonishing because I was able to see that there are some bad choice of family and friends that I have to keep far from me. The reason why I need to make these changes is simply that those people closest to me are able to see me ‘naked’ in other words, as for who I am. The people that are close to me can see my fears, weaknesses, flaws, and more of the things that I hold sacred and personal. The podcast author’s ideas are not subject to being bias, because the key information in how to measure your family, friends and acquaintances level of

According to the basic model overview, I completely agreed with the idea that the cause of family problems is suppressed emotional expression and that we must work from the inside out to uncover the real emotions. This reminded me of the genogram project. One of the more common themes I found throughout my family’s generations is that there was a lot of emotional abuse and distant/ poor connections between the parents and their children. Therefore, I can see how emotional expression is such an integral part of family functioning.

Dysfunctional families has effect people that are in the situation that may cause depression,low self esteem and self blame. Dysfunctional families can be help by communicating with a person that can help. Dysfunctional families connects with my topic because it tells how the families lie to each other. In the novel “The Lie Tree” by Frances Hardinge tells that faith was dealing with family problems. When faith eats an apple from a tree it tells the truth of her parent secret.

For as long as I can remember, my parents always showed their care for me, and with everything they did, they kept their children in mind. Although what they did wasn’t always in the best interests of my siblings and I, they never intended to harm us. What strengthened our love even more was all of the struggles we faced together. These things, although shocking to others, are what strengthened our family’s bond. Even after my father became a serious alcoholic, he never stopped caring for us. My love for him and my mother reciprocated this. Throughout my childhood, my mother and father never stopped trying to do the best for their kids. They simply did it in their own special ways. Because of their dedication to me, I never gave up on them, even if at times, it may not have been the best idea.”

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.

As we contemplated on chapter 10 “Individuals who are securely attached have a well-integrated sense of self-acceptance, self-steam, and self-efficacy” (348). I grew up in a harmonic environment, in which my parents always emphasized me the importance of being secure about myself and never be afraid of expressing my ideas and thoughts. I grew up with a family that motivates me to always obtain my own goals; my parents fomented in me the idea that I have to try the best of me in order to accomplish my goals and my personal success. My parents have always educated me in an affectionate environment, they always express to my sisters and me how important we are and they encourage us to always be independent. One of most important things that my parents taught to my sisters and I was to always be proud of ourselves and never be scared of the times we fall. They always encouraged my sisters and me to focus on our goals and not matter how far or close we are from them. Sincerely, I think that the amount of attention and affection that we receive from our parents influence and design the person we become in the future. Honestly, I am so thankful with my parents because the way in which they educated me to play a really important role on structure and development of my self-steam, my personality, and mainly in the way I interact with

The influences of my family and my life at home have shaped me into the person I am today. My family, consisting of my mother, my father, and two sisters, has not always been one hundred percent functional. Just like any other family, there have been arguments that tear us apart. As a child, the attention that had to be shared between my sisters and I was not always given equally. Even today,

The struggle presented here is a common one: how to come to terms with the innate and strong wish to have and maintain family relations while enduring the ongoing, long-term results

On Friday September 22nd, I attend one of the sessions titled “Your degree is not a Pigeon Hole” conducted by Scott Mclean. To be honest, I was quite skeptical of the Faith and Arts Conference. I told myself that I would just go to have a paragraph or two to write about, but I would not be learning anything. I was greatly surprised by the presentation of Mr.Mclean. As I realized that through the simplicity of his presentation, what God was trying to tell me in my time of questioning in private was answered through a stranger I did not know.

Gentle, stable and accepting is how I would describe my father’s character. I remember as a child, he never criticised or discriminated against anyone. He would spend time talking to people, asking them about themselves. He also had a strong sense of family togetherness. Hence, at weekends we would often go out on family picnics and we would always go on family camping trips during the holidays. These unspoken messages of non-judgemental acceptance and unconditional love of family became a theme throughout my life. Through my study, I have gained an understanding that my relationship with my father is one of bilateral love and commitment. I unconditionally love and accept him because he modelled this message for me (Balswick & Balswick, 2014). Structure and routine are important in my father’s life. He was the eldest of four children and he was held in very high regard by his parents. Hence, they regularly praised him for his accolades. After spending twenty years in the Air Force, he was employed at Air

Not only does the relationship of others affect us but we affect the relationships with others. Bronfenbrenner (1990) uses the example of the child’s parents can affect his beliefs and the child can affect the parent’s beliefs, he calls this bi-directional influence.

The existing bonds I currently share with my parents, coincided with the understanding of their love towards me. Not long ago, I came to an internal conclusion of how the bond with my parents should be. I realized that without my understanding, mutual love was not possible. As a reason of my physical growth and maturation, the amount of daily responsibilities increased. With such minor responsibilities the understanding of my parents’ life became evident. In addition, my maturation caused the development of personal believes