Reflection Of My Family : The Aspects Of The Family

Families, as units, are extremely complex and vary drastically from one another. A person might be under the impression that his or her own family is nothing special, especially if they are accustomed to their family’s routines. After analyzing my own family through the sociological lenses of an assortment of scholars, it is now clear that it is not as simple as it seems. Sociologically analyzing my family through the divorces that have occurred in my life makes it clear that divorce can have an impact on a variety of family dynamics, such as my parents and their jobs and domestic duties, the amount of involvement they have with their friends and family, as well as my financial dependence on my parents.

I knew college was going to change me in many ways. Yet, after my family and I restructured our collective and individual emotional reactivity over the three years that I was away at school, I believed my work in that department was done. I thought transiting into college was difficult, however, I found myself once again unprepared for the aftershock that rocked my family once I return from school. I left college a strong, independent, mature, and differentiated person, or at least I kind of did.

I’m 17, I’m 5’7, I’m productive with my time, I typed this essay and my family has a tremendous role in my life. With the guidance of family, interests, and the places I’ve been, I have determined the future I want to pursue.

Mathew’s partner, Lisa, gave birth to Caitlin Lara McDonald on the 28th of February 2004. I remember we went to the hospital to see her the day after she was born. They made me sit in a chair so I could hold her without dropping her. I remember thinking that she was so small and fragile (I had never held a baby before). As Caitlin grew up I would go to my brother’s house for sleepovers so I could play with her. One time we were playing and I accidentally hurt her and she started crying. I felt so bad that I started crying as well, then Caitlin started comforting me, telling me not to cry. I think because we are so close in age our relationship is more like sisters rather than aunty and niece.

By looking at my parents’ gross incomes you’d see that we are a somewhat financially stable family. Because of my parents’ incomes I do not qualify for scholarships such as the Daniels Fund and the Horatio Alger scholarship. But, what these awards don’t take into account is medical need. As you can imagine, a rare vascular malformation isn’t exactly the cheapest disorder to possess. My KTS has provided me with a lifetime of medical need which includes check-ups, possible surgeries, compression garments, etc. My parents have provided me with the best possible health care since I was a child, but unfortunately they do not have the means to help me pay for college. I’ve always known they will not be able to help me pay for college so over the

I talked with this patient on October 12. He used to live at home, and he referred back to when he was younger. He lived with 15 brothers and sisters, his mom and dad. He was the oldest sibling. His role as a child in the family was to collect wood and coal. He said his mom and dad made the decisions in the family and "you did what they said”. He said his heritage was Heinz 57 and he said specifically his mom and dad are hillbillies. As a child his neighborhood had great people. He said they were mostly mormons, and he had a lot of friends. His family does celebrate holidays and by doing this they had family dinners. A holiday the whole neighborhood celebrated was Christmas. The only other special celebrations they had was birthdays. When I asked how often his family members and friends visited he says they don't. His daughter comes in every once in awhile.

Ever since I was born into this world I knew that God placed me with the perfect family. My parents and my older brother mean the world to me. We were all so close and comfortable with one another and that’s how a true and understanding family is supposed to be. It was the summer of my sophomore year and I was so excited to be able to spend it with the people I loved most. As the summer went on I began to realize that my parents were hardly speaking to one another. My brother and I just assumed that they had gotten into a fight and they were just taking time apart. A few weeks on and they still weren't communicating with one another. At this point I realized that something was wrong. The family that I once loved and looked forward to seeing was growing apart. They never kissed, or hugged or even simply talked to one another. It was near the end of summer when my mom told me news that would change my life forever. She sat me down and told me that she was filing for an immediate divorce. I was so devastated and furious at both of them. I couldn't understand why they let their relationship get to this point. As weeks went on I noticed that my mom was always on the phone, and whenever I would ask who it was she would simply ignore me.I soon began to realize that the reason why my mom was becoming so distant is because she was having an affair. I felt like my world was turned upside but this was only the beginning of the struggle I've been facing with my parents.

Family is irreplaceable. You can have a ton of friends, but when it comes down to it, family is more important. Family always has your back, and no matter how tough it gets they will always be there for you. If you mess with my family, you mess with me. That’s how my family works. Every family is different though.

When I was watching this movie, I felt great sadness for Howard. I’m sure the loss of a daughter can be detrimental to someone. I know that everyone deals with their grief and suffering differently. I could understand his reason for being angry and acting in the way that he did. However, I did fail to see that he was not the only one struggling with grief and suffering. Not only did he need his friends but his friends need him as well. I feel like just like Howard our grief can have a domino effect on others to help them come to terms with their suffering as well. Howard was in a sad and depressed state and his friends simply wanted to help him. Which is what most friends attempt to do for each other. However, like his friends, I feel we get so caught up in helping our friends through their struggles we seem to forget our own. I could see the redemptive suffering through each character.

Throughout the course of the semester we have been grouped together to work with infants and toddlers with their families. Every Thursday I attend playgroup with four of my peers to interact with multiple different families, but we do not get the chance to meet with the families in the other playgroups. Collaboratively, we arranged an event for all of the playgroups to come together during our parent-child family potluck dinner with activities. When putting together this event, there were many components to take into consideration.

I enjoyed this assignment to the fullest, at times it was challenging but as time went on and I was progressing in my paper everything became easier. I was never the type of person to have bottomless conversations with my family members but after this assessment it came clear to me that I should do it more often. Although, I did not get the whole physical aspect of the assignment because I did my interviews over the phone, I still caught on to their different tones. While, discussing the past experiences with each individual I caught on to a similar pattern, it would begin with an unsure and moderate tone as if they are not sure what to say, but, as the conversation went deeper they would become more sure and more relaxed and overall fluent when we talked and from there they would just babble and go into depth on their experiences. I enjoyed listening to their stories as they reminisced of their child hood or as Cynthia Burney Wadley put it “the good ol’ days.” Lastly, the information I have learned from my family experiences really shined light into my eyes. Personally, I assumed I knew I enough about the past that I wouldn’t learn much, not only was I completely wrong, it was an inspiring assignment to continue asking and looking into my family history and background.

A family is what most people would like to have in life. People that are there for you when you need them and to help guide us through the obstacles in our lives. Most people think that you have to be related to be considered a family “A family is a group where the adults cooperate for the well-being of the group, it can include those related by blood, marriage, or adoption, and also those who live together in an intimate relationship”(Hammond and Cheney) . It can be someone that has been your friend for years that you consider to be about of the family. Family is people that you can count on to be there for moral support when needed. Most families that we think of contain a mother, father, sisters, and brothers, but not all families are the same. There are some families with two parents, one parent, parents of the same sex, adoptive parents and the list goes on. Most people have an idea of the perfect family that they essentially want.

I had the pleasure of interviewing my next-door neighbors, who are a family of six. The family members are Mom, Dad, a 17-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, a 6-year-old boy, and a 4 months old baby girl. The Mom, Dad, and T the 17-year-old girl migrated from El Salvador. They did not come together to the United States dad came first than mom, and than T. The two young boys and the baby girl were born here in the United States. When asked what culture they identify with mom, dad, and T said Salvadorian and the two boys S and B said they identify with both cultures. A lot of the values they have are in relation to their culture, they believe family should come first; its important to remember your roots, and that respect is the foundation of a family.

Family collaborations are a major influence in how a child with disabilities contracts the things needed to prosper. Disabilities can affect a child and how interactions occur, however a good support system for families can alter the results. I chose a family for the purpose of the family study based on the disorder of one of the children. Anna, has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. I understood before the interview that Down syndrome was a genetic disorder. I have taught students who also had the diagnosis and have seen some were very high and some were very low functioning. I had become familiar with Anna’s family through a program in our county and I approached her mother to possibly set up a meeting to speak to her about her daughters’ diagnosis and how it affects the family. Anna’s mother was very accepting and willing to assist with the study, inviting me into their home, and a meeting was set.

”No one is ever born into Life alone. Everyone has shared the bond of family, at least at birth, and for many people it is a bond that will follow them throughout life. For many people it is the most important bond of all.”