Walking in My Shoes

Family is a grand thing, and I think that is the reason that God created it the way he did. It’s full of many members that come together to love and care about one another. Maybe I’m partial, but I think that my family is the best. Family dinner once a week and twice on holidays, worshiping together at our church, coming together with people that you love is an amazing thing. We tell each other about our week, and our older relatives tell us of how things used to be. The stories are one of my favorite parts. Countless stories are passed down through the generations in every family. Tales that tell of how we came to be and the trials that ancestors before us went through and learned from. Every family’s story is unique, including mine. The story my family tells most often, is the story of Phillip Hamman.

The common characteristics defined by Lamanna and Reidmann for family are ancestry, marriage and or adoption.  They give a list of three characteristics along with which people are usually related.. (1.) from an economic unit and care for any young.  (2.) consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group, and (3.) to commit to maintaining that group over time.  Yes, for many reasons I would definitely consider my family to fit these three categories of of the common characteristics.  My family is a support unit on which I can heavily rely on and we all have each others best interest at heart and will do anything to help one another.  I wish it was better defined and more in detail because I find the three characteristics to be very vague but I would add that family is also some kind of support group on which you are emotionally attached to and heavily rely on to make important choices.. well, in most cases.

explained what it was like to be African American in a certain time and place.”

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.

The scorching heat of the summer day in Stamps, Arkansas made the dusty roads and cross tracks have mirages. It was a slow moving town otherwise, in my opinion. I amongst many other blacks were segregated from the whites. The whites are richer than the blacks in my town, but through hard work and determination I do have a similar lifestyle to the whites. One thing that was important to me was helping one girl accepting herself in this disconsolate town that she can do anything she puts her mind too..

Instructor: Mrs. Joy Jacobs, CFCS, MAEd (“Mrs. J.”) E-mail address: jacobsj@msu.edu Please always use “HDFS 145" on the subject line when you e-mail. Office hours: Mrs. J. will be in the classroom one half hour before and will stay after class until all students are gone, or you may make an appointment with her. Go to this website: https://ntweb11.ais.msu.edu/aas/ Because of advising responsibilities, she is not available for walk-in appointments and she cannot take phone calls from students. She HATES playing “phone tag”, so please do not try to leave phone messages in her office! Undergraduate Learning Assistants who will be helping with this class: Abbey

here we had a big family ,my aunt and her family, my uncle and his family, my grandfather and

I define family by a group of people that communicate on regular basic, care for each other, and love each other unconditionally. I think that I was able to construct that definition when I realized that my “relatives” weren’t related to me at all. And then realized I talk to the people who I was related to all more than the people who were considered “blood”. I’ve never been to a family house where I have considered them perfect, every family has their personal issues as well as their own strength.

Growing up in a tight box that I always had to try to fit into, I never knew any different. The expectations, the standards, the cruel words and the harsh stares. Being an outcast amongst others or being verbally battered for reasons I could never fully understand. These were all aspects that were prevalent in my life because I was the Pastor’s daughter, and they were problems I had always viewed as a normality.

My family is very diverse and comes from many different places. My maternal grandmother came to the United States from England when she was 18 and met my biological grandfather. They lived in Montana on Flathead Indian Reservation. This is where my mother was born and raised. When my mother was in high school, she met my

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.

On the other hand, you do not get to choose your family, you just have to deal with them. The true definition of a family is a group of people usually of the same blood, but do not always have to be. I have a large family. I have two sets of grandparents, two great-grandparents, two parents, two brothers, three uncles, one aunt, one

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

Family Members: My extended family is a unique blend of beautiful characters held together by the word “family”. They are spirited Germans who solve everything with Spätzle and smiles, each have their own opinions, tastes, and humor. Generally, I just try to be blend in, go-with-the flow when it comes to the in-laws. As for my mother and seven siblings, I make a point to stay close to them and be supportive. They are a big part of my connection to who I am and where I came from, that is something I do not want to forget.