Child Rearing Family Paper
Assessment of the Child-Rearing Family
John F.
College
Instructor Date: November 1, 2013
Introduction Families are a unit of interconnected individuals that work together to promote health and well-being for one another. Beliefs, values, and culture help to create the distinct characteristics of each individual within the family. A child rearing family was willing to be interviewed and share the internal relationships of their own cultural values. The family was informed that questions would be asked about different aspects of their life, that the information would not be shared with anyone except for the instructor and that no names or other identification would be used in the paper. The topics …show more content…
will focus on the family’s structure, developmental stage, developmental stage of the child, and the family function. Strengths and weaknesses of the child rearing family will then be explained in accordance to the presenting objective and subjective data collected during the interview.
Family Structure and Demographics
To protect the privacy of the family names have been made up to help Identify each individual role in the family. The members of the family are Amy (mother), Joe (dad) and Ronny (son). Amy is a 49 year old woman, the wife of Joe and the mother of Ronny. She is of Filipino ethnicity and is the 2nd generation to be in America. Amy works as a home health aide and states that she works full-time. Joe is a 45 year old man of Filipino and Hawaiian ethnicity, a husband to Amy, and the father of Ronny. Joe works as a macadamia nut factory worker and works full-time as well. Ronny is the 19 year old son of Amy and Joe. He had just started his first year of college, majoring in computer science and has a part-time job as a cashier at McDonalds. The family is characteristic of a nuclear-dyad family which is defined as a family structure that consists of a husband and wife living together who have no children or who have grown children living outside of the home (Cohn, 2001).
Family Developmental Stage, Stage Specific Tasks As stated in the documentation Theoretical bases for promoting family health, Duvall’s theory of developmental stages defines the “launching center” stage as a family member being released as a young adult into work, military service, college, or marriage with appropriate rituals and assistance (pg. 483). Ronny’s launch from the comfort of home into society is a transition from adolescence into early adulthood. This shows that this family is in the stage of launching. The transition from home to college integrates a new role for Ronny in accepting the emotional and financial responsibility to provide independent care for own self. Ronny shows financial responsibility by finding a part-time job. Although he does not enjoy the job, he enjoys earning money and helping his parents with some of the expenses of college. Amy and Joe encourage Ronny’s new role of independence by allowing Ronny to dorm with other individuals that are experiencing the same transition and developmental stage.
Amy and Joe’s roles also change. Ronny’s transition from public school to college puts more economic strain on the family because of the drastic increases of the expenditure of college, considering the costs of Ronny’s tuition, dormitory rent, books, laptops, and other school supplies. The home consist of only Amy and Joe, which is a new transition from the functioning roles and tasks of supporting a child within their home to supporting a child outside their home. Also, they decided that they would work more hours to cover added expenses such as dormitory, books, and Ronny’s car bills. Since Ronny has moved out, they are spending more time together in the home, which allows them to have more meaningful conversations and discussions. In addition to that, Joe takes Amy out to restaurants for dinner more often, they go site seeing when they feel like it, and are more proactive with church activities.
Amy and Joe have been a church going family since they were children and expect the same from Ronny. Although Ronny is away from home, he still attends Sunday services. Amy and Joe believe strongly in their role of fostering social cohesion and moral training. Ronny stated that he prays for his parents’ good health and his success in life and thanks God for all the blessings he has been bestowed. He strongly believes that by upholding his faith in God, he can be successful in life.
On weekends, Amy calls Ronny to have conversations and discuss how the weeks have gone. They discuss the different stressors that they are dealing with and help each other cope with the stress by figuring out effective therapeutic methods to deal with the conflicts that arise, such as family discussions over the phone, at family gatherings on the weekends or holidays, and at the church with the pastor. On occasion, Ronny goes home to have family time with his mom and dad. Joe states that when Ronny comes to visit, it is tradition to have a beer together and have barbecues with family and friends before he leaves. These types of leisure activities uphold traditions and rituals which reinforce and strengthen family bonds (Mckinney, 2013)
Developmental Stage of the Child and Stage Specific Tasks
Erickson describes stages of psychosocial development and separates them into eight stages.
Ronny is in the stage of late adolescence to early adult hood. In the adolescence stage, identity vs. role confusion is the central conflict that has to be balanced. In adulthood, Intimacy vs Isolation is the developmental task that needs resolution (Mckinney, 2013). Ronny stated that in his first week of independent living, his friends were his source of comfort and security. He explained that some of his friends in college helped him to find a job, setup class schedules, and find his way around the university. Ronny’s interests in computers, math, and video games helped him to decide that computer science would be the best choice for his major. Ronny liked his first week of school and explained that he was intrigued by the class subjects that he was taking. Ronny showed a lot of interest in technology, he explained to me some differences of computer operating systems and gave advice in what operating system would be best for playing video games on. Ronny shared a graphic design assignment that he created in high school and showed satisfaction and pride in his …show more content…
accomplishment.
Ronny feels that spending time away from his family has helped him realize that he is able to make independent decisions with caring for himself, be proactive in establishing a healthy lifestyle for himself, and show responsibility for various life choices. For example, Ronny has learned how to do his own laundry, make the right kind of friends, and make healthy food choices. He makes responsible choices by going to classes and finishing assignments, going to work and budgeting earnings. Before staring college, Ronny had just gotten out of a two year relationship with his girlfriend. After high school, she had moved out of state to pursue her own educational goals. Ronny still talks to her on occasion and they are still friends with a mutual relationship. Ronny is not worried about seeking a relationship as of now, instead wants to devote his time into earning his degree. Ronny verbalized that if the opportunity presents itself with the right kind of girl, he would be willing to put effort into a relationship. Ronny was firm on his decision to major in computer science, which shows that he has a strong sense of identity. Although Ronny broke up with his girlfriend, he showed that he was still making the effort of being friends with her by keeping in touch via telephone calls. Ronny does not currently have an intimate relationship but showed that he was capable of holding a genuine mutuality with another individual.
Provision of affection and emotional support
Amy, Joe, and Ronny provide affection for one another in their own individual ways. Amy provides affection for Joe by holding his hand, making eye to eye contact with him, and joking around and teasing him. She provides Joe with emotional support by discussing stressors that may arise during work and helps him resolve the issues that are the sources of conflict. Amy shows affection and emotional support to Ronny by giving Ronny hugs and kisses when he comes home for the weekend, cooks his favorite dish, encourages him to talk about how school is going and verbalizes how proud she is of his achievements. Amy encourages family pictures and decorates the home with the pictures of precious moments and memories that bring a smile to families and friends when they come to visit. Joe provides affection and emotional support to Amy by taking her out to dinner on special occasions, verbalizes how nice her dress is or compliments on a new haircut, and kisses her on the cheek when coming home from work. He comforts her when she expresses feelings of sadness that Ronny no longer lives with them. He reassures her worries about Ronny’s transition into a young adult by verbalizing that Ronny has grown up and that they, as parents, were successful in raising him right. Joe showed affection and emotional support toward Ronny by throwing barbecues when we would come to visit, go on fishing trips with him, and by giving him hand-me-downs to give to his children. He verbalized to Ronny that he could talk about any issues that he may have at school or with life in general. Ronny provides affection and emotional support to his parents by helping them resolve any conflicting issues or arguments at home, Ronny calls his parents during the weekends to discuss stressors of life, visits them on occasion, and participates in family outings. Traveling during the summer is a leisure activity that they all do together. Amy stated that the next summer she wanted the whole family to go to Texas to visit family and friends.
Provision of security and acceptance
Amy and Ronny own a home in a rural area of the Big Island. They have a two story home that consists of three bedrooms and two baths. The home was in immaculate condition with no signs of rust or molding from the exterior. In the home, the flooring was mostly hardwood with carpeting within living room area and rooms. There was a dining area with a table that could sit all members of the family with room for two visitors, which encouraged the whole family to sit together during meal times. Light sources were present within all areas of the home. Quick observations of the rooms and living area showed neatly made beds, clutter free floors, well maintained hardwood flooring with no signs of breaks or cracks in the wood, pictures of the family, and scholarly achievements of Ronny framed on the walls. The family owns one dog who has been with the family for approximately five years.
Environmental hazards observed were the hard wood floors, which could be very slippery when wet and could cause falls leading to serious injury. Also, if the hard wood floors should get compromised in integrity, splinters could cause penetrating injuries. The home consisted of two flights of stairs which were a dark brown color. If the stair case is not well-lit the risk for falls is increased. Lastly, the home itself is not on a flat acre of land, the dirt and rocks in addition to the uneven landscape puts anyone at risk for falls.
The family’s income is evenly earned by both Amy and Joe but Amy holds most of the financial decisions, handles most of the financial earning, and the budgeting of the monetary earnings. The title breadwinner leans more toward Amy because of her financial obligation of making the decisions with the earnings. Both parents provide financial needs of Ronny which include food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, car payments, and college expenses.
If Ronny becomes ill, Amy and Joe are prepared by having a sick day action plan where Amy and Joe’s work days are scheduled so one parent can always be available. Amy works most of her hours during the day and Joe works during the night so they have a parent available in the case of an emergency illness of their child. Also, in the case of an emergency where parents are not available Ronny was given a copy of his medical insurance card, his primary physician’s number, his aunt’s number that lives near the college and the work phone numbers of both parents. Lastly, the entire family took a CPR class that gives them the knowledge of resuscitation in case of an emergency.
Decision making with Ronny’s childrearing matters are evenly distributed with Amy and Joe. They still decide on the financial needs of Ronny as he goes to school and keep track of who Ronny is acquainted with (friends and coworkers). Amy and Joe are slowly moving away from making simple decisions for Ronny and encourage Ronny to make responsible decisions for himself. Amy and Joe guide Ronny with his decisions by asking him what he thinks he should do but give input on the subjects that he isn’t familiar. This helps foster decision making skills that will be essential for Ronny to learn as he progresses through adulthood. Also, the church provides the entire family with support and guidance in the various aspects of life where God is needed to find ethical answers and help with moral decisions. There are church activities that promote active exercise, pot lucks that promote socialization, and Sunday services that allows a chance for prayer and self-reflection. Although Ronny is living on his own, the stability of the family unit allows him to have a safe retreat from the stressors of the outside world where he can always be accepted for being himself. Ronny knows that he can always depend on his family in times of stress, which promotes confidence and self-assurance. The sense of a secure environment to go back to contributes to each family member’s mental and emotional health and equips them with the skills necessary to cope with the outside world. The home is the place of refuge, a place to recuperate from a hard day at work, a place to find comfort and renewal and a place of security and acceptance.
Instilling Identity and satisfaction
Amy and Joe view Ronny as a mature young adult. They guide Ronny through school but want to encourage independence as much as they can and allow him to experience life outside of home. The action of encouraging independence reinforces life skills and the important life lessons that Ronny needs to learn in order to successfully navigate the world when he becomes a full- adult. At a young age Ronny was taught the value of faith and why going to church was an important aspect of their family’s life. The church influences the family to get up every Sunday at the same time, eating together as a family during meals, and have family prayers daily. The ritualized action of going to the same place at the same time and doing the same things strengthens family identity, cohesiveness and unity of purpose. The identity of each member shows in personality and functioning role in the family. Amy is the breadwinner of the home, she is soft spoken and gentle with words. Joe is the masculine figure of the home, has a strong voice, works to provide for his family, and performs maintenance repairs of the home. Ronny showed growing independence, is experiencing the developmental task of transitioning from an adolescent into a young, and has an ambition of earning a college degree.
Provision of affiliation and companionship
The family show that they are always there for one another by supporting each other when there are emotional, physical, or spiritual dilemmas. For example, they call one another and have family activities where they can share their feelings, ideas, and emotions. This allows them to discuss issues and help one another cope with the life stressor that they are dealing with.
The family enjoy each other’s company most when they go on their summer family trips, have weekend barbecues with friends and family, and go to Sunday services. Each Family member verbalize comforting words to one another, express warm smiles, give hugs, give kisses and listen to what each member has to say.
Amy and Joe show a connection to one another that express intimacy and affection. They hold one another, give each other kisses, joke and tease, and verbalize compliments to each other. Amy and Joe feel a strong desire for Ronny to experience independence but still keep in contact with him to know how he is acclimating to life outside of their home. They call him every weekend, give him guiding advice, provide financial needs, and throw family barbecues when he visits. Ronny explained that his parents provide him with nurturing support, which enables to express his needs, wants, and concerns to them. The family support each other financially by sharing the expenditures of Ronny’s college fees. Amy and Joe pay for the tuition, books, and rent but Ronny also contributes by paying for his weekly allowance, keeping tabs on financial aid, and getting scholarship rewards.
The family communicates with respect toward one another and the tone portrayed in their voices are gentle and calm but firm and clear. Joe and Ronny share the same characteristic of having a strong, projecting voice that can be heard clearly across their living room. Amy is more soft-spoken but states things clearly without mumbling. The family demonstrated open and honest communication, which creates an atmosphere that allows the family members to express their differences as well as love and admiration for one another. The world can prove to be a hectic, dangerous, unruly, and unpredictable environment. The family provide a home, which provides each member with the sense of belonging, nurturing support, and peace of mind. This strengthens there affiliation toward one another and nurtures their feeling of companionship.
Provision of socialization for the young Amy and Joe put a big emphasis on the religious aspects of their lives and expect Ronny to uphold this church going attribute throughout his adulthood so that he may pass it down to his children. Amy explains that going to church has been a tradition in her family passed down from older generations. Amy and Joe believe that no matter what religion you are from, if the individual’s faith is strong, blessings will be abundant and fruitful. Ronny stated that he enjoys going to church because it strengthens his faith but and is a place for socialization and harmony with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and interests. Ronny believes that by having strong spiritual ties with god he is able to maintain accountability, keep perspective on life goals, and enables him to do his best. Also, Ronny felt that most of the people in the church were like an extended family since his childhood revolved around going to the same church every Sunday and had built a familiarity and bond with most of the people that attend the same church. He stated that he had three childhood friends from the church that he knew since he was still a toddler and is closely attached to these individuals. Ronny defined them as being his brothers and sisters, although they were unrelated.
Maintaining social control Early in Ronny’s childhood Amy and Joe established the tradition of going to church. Amy stated that because Ronny was introduced to religion so early, moral and ethical values are strongly established in Ronny. In Ronny’s early childhood, he found heaven and hell fascinating and showed interest in following rules to avoid punishment. Joe explained that the messages of the church services taught a focus on the need for reciprocal, loving behaviors and meeting the human justice needs of the world. Ronny has shown affection toward his family and friends, expressed concern for the distressed parents, and showed a maturing conscience. Ronny offers help to others and enjoys conversation with other individuals. Amy states that during high school, Ronny did not get expelled or suspended for misbehavior or misconduct. He did not show any difficulty with school performance, and his grades were consistent of A’s and B’s. Amy stated that when Ronny was in the school-age, he was quite the live wire. Amy usually controlled Ronny’s energetic personality by taking him to the beach where he could swim and run around on the sand to expend that energy. Also, discipline was in the form of verbal explanation, timeouts and spanking in severe forms of misbehavior. The misbehavior would first be correct by firm scolding and explanation of why they are being punished and if Ronny would escalate in his temper tantrums then a timeout would be established. For behaviors that are out of control, like hitting someone, showing aggressive behavior toward the parents or swearing then a spank on the hand or but was the form of discipline.
Family strengths and weaknesses
The most profound strength observed with this family is the system of values, beliefs, and morals established by active participation in their church. The family showed that they Listen to the morally sound, positive, uplifting messages once a week at services and apply it to their everyday life. It was observed with the family’s standards of right and wrong and their behaviors showing cohesiveness as a family unit. Amy and Joe mentioned that going to church has been a big part of their lives and emphasized that to Ronny. Ronny strongly believes in actively attending the church services the whole family viewed attending worship services together as a way for everyone in the family to organize and meet a common goal. It was observed that the family works as a connected unit rather than separate parts.
Another strength that the family had was that the family shared their ideas, issues, and emotions with one another through effective communication. Amy and Joe communicate with each other with affection and respect. They expressed issues to one another and helped each other cope with any stressor that they may be dealing with. For example, Joe comforted Amy when she was missing Ronny and worried about how he was doing. He gave her uplifting words and praised her for her accomplishment in raising Ronny to become the fine man that he is. Although Ronny has moved out he is still proactive in keeping the bonds strong with his parents by calling them on the weekends and discussing how things are going. The communication between the families was humble and respected one another’s decisions.
The next strength observed was the social aspect of their family. The family was very proactive in attending church and familiarizing themselves with god and other people with the same goal. It was mentioned that most of the people within the church have been friends since Ronny’s early child hood. This socialization with people for many years and getting to know them establishes a bond close to being family. Ronny mentioned three friends that he has known in the church since childhood has become like brothers and sisters to him. The family also had strong social characteristics. Joe stated that they have frequent barbecues with family and friends, they attend church activities, and visit other family members that are out of state.
The first weaknesses that was observed was one method of discipline that Amy and Joe used during Ronny’s school age years.
Appropriate forms of discipline that were used included timeouts and verbal explanation because it allows the parent to separate the deed from the doer and encourages respect and kindness (McKinney, 2013). The disciplinary method of spanking, a form of corporal punishment, was used by Amy and Joe when Ronny would get too out of control in his younger years. Although Ronny does not exhibit signs of aggression at his current age, spanking usually teaches aggression toward other people and manifests the belief that hitting is acceptable. Additionally, Spanking prevents inquisitive behavior and elicits inversion of emotions and behavior as the child matures. Studies say that spanking is no more effective than other methods of discipline and is not recommended as a method of disciplining children (McKinney, 2013). If Amy and Joe do decide to have another child, using corporal punishment as a method of discipline too frequently may result in aggressive behavior toward others and manifests the idea that hitting is an acceptable manner of behavior. As the child matures these habits could result in harm toward others, to the child, and could lead to a lifetime of delinquency (Gershoff,
2002).
A second weakness observed was the habit of drinking alcoholic beverages at family occasion. Joe stated that when Ronny would come to visit them, they would have a beer together and throw a barbecue. Although this activity fosters socialization and bonding, drinking alcohol may have drastic physical and psychological effects if not managed or limited. Also, Ronny being nineteen years old is still under the legal drinking age, which can have negative results with the law. Substance use at this age is dangerous on his health because under the influence of alcohol there is higher risk of behaviors that may result in unintentional injury and unprotected sex (McKinney, 2013).
The third weakness observed with this family is Ronny’s developmental task of Intimacy vs Isolation. Ronny has gotten out of a two year relationship with his girlfriend and also has separated from his family. Ronny stated that he was not interested in looking for another relationship at the moment but is willing to put effort into one if the right women comes along. Although he calls his parents every weekend, Ronny is still outside of his comfort zone and is vulnerable to exploitation. Furthermore, waiting too long in finding an intimate relationship puts Ronny at risk for alienated and loneliness. Teens that struggle with finding intimacy result in poor self-images and little confidence (McKinney, 2013). If Ronny has a hard time making friends in college it may result in demoralization and a fearful attitude about reaching out to others or responding to friendly overtures. The result of failure to find intimacy is isolation, which may manifest feelings of doubt about being competent or successful, and may become increasingly cut-off from school, family, and friends. Additionally, it makes the teen easy prey for involvement with the wrong kind of friends because of their yearning to belong.
Conclusion
The family proved to have the strength of family resiliency, having the ability to cultivate strengths to positively meet the challenges of life. The family show some weaknesses that can be managed by being clear about their family values, establishing good disciplinary habits and making decisions that each family member can live by. What every individual gains from their families in childhood will serve them with the unique personalities, talents, and attributes that are carried throughout their lives. Families are the social networks that contribute their learned experiences to create the society that they live in.
References
Allender, J.A.. Rector, C., & Warner, K.D. (2010). Theoretical bases for promoting family health.Community health nursing: Promoting and protecting the public’s health (pp. 476-493). Philadelphia
Cohn, D. (September 7, 2001). 4% of U.S. homes are multigenerational: Culture, finances dictate lifestyles. Washington Post, p. A8.
Gershoff, E. (n.d.). Is Corporal Punishment an Effective Means of Discipline?. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2002/06/spanking.aspx. McKinney, E. S., James, S. R., Murray, S. S., Nelson, K. A., & Ashwill, J. W. (2013). Maternal-Child Nursing (Fourth ed.). Canada: Elsevier.
John F.
College
Instructor Date: November 1, 2013
Introduction Families are a unit of interconnected individuals that work together to promote health and well-being for one another. Beliefs, values, and culture help to create the distinct characteristics of each individual within the family. A child rearing family was willing to be interviewed and share the internal relationships of their own cultural values. The family was informed that questions would be asked about different aspects of their life, that the information would not be shared with anyone except for the instructor and that no names or other identification would be used in the paper. The topics …show more content…
will focus on the family’s structure, developmental stage, developmental stage of the child, and the family function. Strengths and weaknesses of the child rearing family will then be explained in accordance to the presenting objective and subjective data collected during the interview.
Family Structure and Demographics
To protect the privacy of the family names have been made up to help Identify each individual role in the family. The members of the family are Amy (mother), Joe (dad) and Ronny (son). Amy is a 49 year old woman, the wife of Joe and the mother of Ronny. She is of Filipino ethnicity and is the 2nd generation to be in America. Amy works as a home health aide and states that she works full-time. Joe is a 45 year old man of Filipino and Hawaiian ethnicity, a husband to Amy, and the father of Ronny. Joe works as a macadamia nut factory worker and works full-time as well. Ronny is the 19 year old son of Amy and Joe. He had just started his first year of college, majoring in computer science and has a part-time job as a cashier at McDonalds. The family is characteristic of a nuclear-dyad family which is defined as a family structure that consists of a husband and wife living together who have no children or who have grown children living outside of the home (Cohn, 2001).
Family Developmental Stage, Stage Specific Tasks As stated in the documentation Theoretical bases for promoting family health, Duvall’s theory of developmental stages defines the “launching center” stage as a family member being released as a young adult into work, military service, college, or marriage with appropriate rituals and assistance (pg. 483). Ronny’s launch from the comfort of home into society is a transition from adolescence into early adulthood. This shows that this family is in the stage of launching. The transition from home to college integrates a new role for Ronny in accepting the emotional and financial responsibility to provide independent care for own self. Ronny shows financial responsibility by finding a part-time job. Although he does not enjoy the job, he enjoys earning money and helping his parents with some of the expenses of college. Amy and Joe encourage Ronny’s new role of independence by allowing Ronny to dorm with other individuals that are experiencing the same transition and developmental stage.
Amy and Joe’s roles also change. Ronny’s transition from public school to college puts more economic strain on the family because of the drastic increases of the expenditure of college, considering the costs of Ronny’s tuition, dormitory rent, books, laptops, and other school supplies. The home consist of only Amy and Joe, which is a new transition from the functioning roles and tasks of supporting a child within their home to supporting a child outside their home. Also, they decided that they would work more hours to cover added expenses such as dormitory, books, and Ronny’s car bills. Since Ronny has moved out, they are spending more time together in the home, which allows them to have more meaningful conversations and discussions. In addition to that, Joe takes Amy out to restaurants for dinner more often, they go site seeing when they feel like it, and are more proactive with church activities.
Amy and Joe have been a church going family since they were children and expect the same from Ronny. Although Ronny is away from home, he still attends Sunday services. Amy and Joe believe strongly in their role of fostering social cohesion and moral training. Ronny stated that he prays for his parents’ good health and his success in life and thanks God for all the blessings he has been bestowed. He strongly believes that by upholding his faith in God, he can be successful in life.
On weekends, Amy calls Ronny to have conversations and discuss how the weeks have gone. They discuss the different stressors that they are dealing with and help each other cope with the stress by figuring out effective therapeutic methods to deal with the conflicts that arise, such as family discussions over the phone, at family gatherings on the weekends or holidays, and at the church with the pastor. On occasion, Ronny goes home to have family time with his mom and dad. Joe states that when Ronny comes to visit, it is tradition to have a beer together and have barbecues with family and friends before he leaves. These types of leisure activities uphold traditions and rituals which reinforce and strengthen family bonds (Mckinney, 2013)
Developmental Stage of the Child and Stage Specific Tasks
Erickson describes stages of psychosocial development and separates them into eight stages.
Ronny is in the stage of late adolescence to early adult hood. In the adolescence stage, identity vs. role confusion is the central conflict that has to be balanced. In adulthood, Intimacy vs Isolation is the developmental task that needs resolution (Mckinney, 2013). Ronny stated that in his first week of independent living, his friends were his source of comfort and security. He explained that some of his friends in college helped him to find a job, setup class schedules, and find his way around the university. Ronny’s interests in computers, math, and video games helped him to decide that computer science would be the best choice for his major. Ronny liked his first week of school and explained that he was intrigued by the class subjects that he was taking. Ronny showed a lot of interest in technology, he explained to me some differences of computer operating systems and gave advice in what operating system would be best for playing video games on. Ronny shared a graphic design assignment that he created in high school and showed satisfaction and pride in his …show more content…
accomplishment.
Ronny feels that spending time away from his family has helped him realize that he is able to make independent decisions with caring for himself, be proactive in establishing a healthy lifestyle for himself, and show responsibility for various life choices. For example, Ronny has learned how to do his own laundry, make the right kind of friends, and make healthy food choices. He makes responsible choices by going to classes and finishing assignments, going to work and budgeting earnings. Before staring college, Ronny had just gotten out of a two year relationship with his girlfriend. After high school, she had moved out of state to pursue her own educational goals. Ronny still talks to her on occasion and they are still friends with a mutual relationship. Ronny is not worried about seeking a relationship as of now, instead wants to devote his time into earning his degree. Ronny verbalized that if the opportunity presents itself with the right kind of girl, he would be willing to put effort into a relationship. Ronny was firm on his decision to major in computer science, which shows that he has a strong sense of identity. Although Ronny broke up with his girlfriend, he showed that he was still making the effort of being friends with her by keeping in touch via telephone calls. Ronny does not currently have an intimate relationship but showed that he was capable of holding a genuine mutuality with another individual.
Provision of affection and emotional support
Amy, Joe, and Ronny provide affection for one another in their own individual ways. Amy provides affection for Joe by holding his hand, making eye to eye contact with him, and joking around and teasing him. She provides Joe with emotional support by discussing stressors that may arise during work and helps him resolve the issues that are the sources of conflict. Amy shows affection and emotional support to Ronny by giving Ronny hugs and kisses when he comes home for the weekend, cooks his favorite dish, encourages him to talk about how school is going and verbalizes how proud she is of his achievements. Amy encourages family pictures and decorates the home with the pictures of precious moments and memories that bring a smile to families and friends when they come to visit. Joe provides affection and emotional support to Amy by taking her out to dinner on special occasions, verbalizes how nice her dress is or compliments on a new haircut, and kisses her on the cheek when coming home from work. He comforts her when she expresses feelings of sadness that Ronny no longer lives with them. He reassures her worries about Ronny’s transition into a young adult by verbalizing that Ronny has grown up and that they, as parents, were successful in raising him right. Joe showed affection and emotional support toward Ronny by throwing barbecues when we would come to visit, go on fishing trips with him, and by giving him hand-me-downs to give to his children. He verbalized to Ronny that he could talk about any issues that he may have at school or with life in general. Ronny provides affection and emotional support to his parents by helping them resolve any conflicting issues or arguments at home, Ronny calls his parents during the weekends to discuss stressors of life, visits them on occasion, and participates in family outings. Traveling during the summer is a leisure activity that they all do together. Amy stated that the next summer she wanted the whole family to go to Texas to visit family and friends.
Provision of security and acceptance
Amy and Ronny own a home in a rural area of the Big Island. They have a two story home that consists of three bedrooms and two baths. The home was in immaculate condition with no signs of rust or molding from the exterior. In the home, the flooring was mostly hardwood with carpeting within living room area and rooms. There was a dining area with a table that could sit all members of the family with room for two visitors, which encouraged the whole family to sit together during meal times. Light sources were present within all areas of the home. Quick observations of the rooms and living area showed neatly made beds, clutter free floors, well maintained hardwood flooring with no signs of breaks or cracks in the wood, pictures of the family, and scholarly achievements of Ronny framed on the walls. The family owns one dog who has been with the family for approximately five years.
Environmental hazards observed were the hard wood floors, which could be very slippery when wet and could cause falls leading to serious injury. Also, if the hard wood floors should get compromised in integrity, splinters could cause penetrating injuries. The home consisted of two flights of stairs which were a dark brown color. If the stair case is not well-lit the risk for falls is increased. Lastly, the home itself is not on a flat acre of land, the dirt and rocks in addition to the uneven landscape puts anyone at risk for falls.
The family’s income is evenly earned by both Amy and Joe but Amy holds most of the financial decisions, handles most of the financial earning, and the budgeting of the monetary earnings. The title breadwinner leans more toward Amy because of her financial obligation of making the decisions with the earnings. Both parents provide financial needs of Ronny which include food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, car payments, and college expenses.
If Ronny becomes ill, Amy and Joe are prepared by having a sick day action plan where Amy and Joe’s work days are scheduled so one parent can always be available. Amy works most of her hours during the day and Joe works during the night so they have a parent available in the case of an emergency illness of their child. Also, in the case of an emergency where parents are not available Ronny was given a copy of his medical insurance card, his primary physician’s number, his aunt’s number that lives near the college and the work phone numbers of both parents. Lastly, the entire family took a CPR class that gives them the knowledge of resuscitation in case of an emergency.
Decision making with Ronny’s childrearing matters are evenly distributed with Amy and Joe. They still decide on the financial needs of Ronny as he goes to school and keep track of who Ronny is acquainted with (friends and coworkers). Amy and Joe are slowly moving away from making simple decisions for Ronny and encourage Ronny to make responsible decisions for himself. Amy and Joe guide Ronny with his decisions by asking him what he thinks he should do but give input on the subjects that he isn’t familiar. This helps foster decision making skills that will be essential for Ronny to learn as he progresses through adulthood. Also, the church provides the entire family with support and guidance in the various aspects of life where God is needed to find ethical answers and help with moral decisions. There are church activities that promote active exercise, pot lucks that promote socialization, and Sunday services that allows a chance for prayer and self-reflection. Although Ronny is living on his own, the stability of the family unit allows him to have a safe retreat from the stressors of the outside world where he can always be accepted for being himself. Ronny knows that he can always depend on his family in times of stress, which promotes confidence and self-assurance. The sense of a secure environment to go back to contributes to each family member’s mental and emotional health and equips them with the skills necessary to cope with the outside world. The home is the place of refuge, a place to recuperate from a hard day at work, a place to find comfort and renewal and a place of security and acceptance.
Instilling Identity and satisfaction
Amy and Joe view Ronny as a mature young adult. They guide Ronny through school but want to encourage independence as much as they can and allow him to experience life outside of home. The action of encouraging independence reinforces life skills and the important life lessons that Ronny needs to learn in order to successfully navigate the world when he becomes a full- adult. At a young age Ronny was taught the value of faith and why going to church was an important aspect of their family’s life. The church influences the family to get up every Sunday at the same time, eating together as a family during meals, and have family prayers daily. The ritualized action of going to the same place at the same time and doing the same things strengthens family identity, cohesiveness and unity of purpose. The identity of each member shows in personality and functioning role in the family. Amy is the breadwinner of the home, she is soft spoken and gentle with words. Joe is the masculine figure of the home, has a strong voice, works to provide for his family, and performs maintenance repairs of the home. Ronny showed growing independence, is experiencing the developmental task of transitioning from an adolescent into a young, and has an ambition of earning a college degree.
Provision of affiliation and companionship
The family show that they are always there for one another by supporting each other when there are emotional, physical, or spiritual dilemmas. For example, they call one another and have family activities where they can share their feelings, ideas, and emotions. This allows them to discuss issues and help one another cope with the life stressor that they are dealing with.
The family enjoy each other’s company most when they go on their summer family trips, have weekend barbecues with friends and family, and go to Sunday services. Each Family member verbalize comforting words to one another, express warm smiles, give hugs, give kisses and listen to what each member has to say.
Amy and Joe show a connection to one another that express intimacy and affection. They hold one another, give each other kisses, joke and tease, and verbalize compliments to each other. Amy and Joe feel a strong desire for Ronny to experience independence but still keep in contact with him to know how he is acclimating to life outside of their home. They call him every weekend, give him guiding advice, provide financial needs, and throw family barbecues when he visits. Ronny explained that his parents provide him with nurturing support, which enables to express his needs, wants, and concerns to them. The family support each other financially by sharing the expenditures of Ronny’s college fees. Amy and Joe pay for the tuition, books, and rent but Ronny also contributes by paying for his weekly allowance, keeping tabs on financial aid, and getting scholarship rewards.
The family communicates with respect toward one another and the tone portrayed in their voices are gentle and calm but firm and clear. Joe and Ronny share the same characteristic of having a strong, projecting voice that can be heard clearly across their living room. Amy is more soft-spoken but states things clearly without mumbling. The family demonstrated open and honest communication, which creates an atmosphere that allows the family members to express their differences as well as love and admiration for one another. The world can prove to be a hectic, dangerous, unruly, and unpredictable environment. The family provide a home, which provides each member with the sense of belonging, nurturing support, and peace of mind. This strengthens there affiliation toward one another and nurtures their feeling of companionship.
Provision of socialization for the young Amy and Joe put a big emphasis on the religious aspects of their lives and expect Ronny to uphold this church going attribute throughout his adulthood so that he may pass it down to his children. Amy explains that going to church has been a tradition in her family passed down from older generations. Amy and Joe believe that no matter what religion you are from, if the individual’s faith is strong, blessings will be abundant and fruitful. Ronny stated that he enjoys going to church because it strengthens his faith but and is a place for socialization and harmony with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and interests. Ronny believes that by having strong spiritual ties with god he is able to maintain accountability, keep perspective on life goals, and enables him to do his best. Also, Ronny felt that most of the people in the church were like an extended family since his childhood revolved around going to the same church every Sunday and had built a familiarity and bond with most of the people that attend the same church. He stated that he had three childhood friends from the church that he knew since he was still a toddler and is closely attached to these individuals. Ronny defined them as being his brothers and sisters, although they were unrelated.
Maintaining social control Early in Ronny’s childhood Amy and Joe established the tradition of going to church. Amy stated that because Ronny was introduced to religion so early, moral and ethical values are strongly established in Ronny. In Ronny’s early childhood, he found heaven and hell fascinating and showed interest in following rules to avoid punishment. Joe explained that the messages of the church services taught a focus on the need for reciprocal, loving behaviors and meeting the human justice needs of the world. Ronny has shown affection toward his family and friends, expressed concern for the distressed parents, and showed a maturing conscience. Ronny offers help to others and enjoys conversation with other individuals. Amy states that during high school, Ronny did not get expelled or suspended for misbehavior or misconduct. He did not show any difficulty with school performance, and his grades were consistent of A’s and B’s. Amy stated that when Ronny was in the school-age, he was quite the live wire. Amy usually controlled Ronny’s energetic personality by taking him to the beach where he could swim and run around on the sand to expend that energy. Also, discipline was in the form of verbal explanation, timeouts and spanking in severe forms of misbehavior. The misbehavior would first be correct by firm scolding and explanation of why they are being punished and if Ronny would escalate in his temper tantrums then a timeout would be established. For behaviors that are out of control, like hitting someone, showing aggressive behavior toward the parents or swearing then a spank on the hand or but was the form of discipline.
Family strengths and weaknesses
The most profound strength observed with this family is the system of values, beliefs, and morals established by active participation in their church. The family showed that they Listen to the morally sound, positive, uplifting messages once a week at services and apply it to their everyday life. It was observed with the family’s standards of right and wrong and their behaviors showing cohesiveness as a family unit. Amy and Joe mentioned that going to church has been a big part of their lives and emphasized that to Ronny. Ronny strongly believes in actively attending the church services the whole family viewed attending worship services together as a way for everyone in the family to organize and meet a common goal. It was observed that the family works as a connected unit rather than separate parts.
Another strength that the family had was that the family shared their ideas, issues, and emotions with one another through effective communication. Amy and Joe communicate with each other with affection and respect. They expressed issues to one another and helped each other cope with any stressor that they may be dealing with. For example, Joe comforted Amy when she was missing Ronny and worried about how he was doing. He gave her uplifting words and praised her for her accomplishment in raising Ronny to become the fine man that he is. Although Ronny has moved out he is still proactive in keeping the bonds strong with his parents by calling them on the weekends and discussing how things are going. The communication between the families was humble and respected one another’s decisions.
The next strength observed was the social aspect of their family. The family was very proactive in attending church and familiarizing themselves with god and other people with the same goal. It was mentioned that most of the people within the church have been friends since Ronny’s early child hood. This socialization with people for many years and getting to know them establishes a bond close to being family. Ronny mentioned three friends that he has known in the church since childhood has become like brothers and sisters to him. The family also had strong social characteristics. Joe stated that they have frequent barbecues with family and friends, they attend church activities, and visit other family members that are out of state.
The first weaknesses that was observed was one method of discipline that Amy and Joe used during Ronny’s school age years.
Appropriate forms of discipline that were used included timeouts and verbal explanation because it allows the parent to separate the deed from the doer and encourages respect and kindness (McKinney, 2013). The disciplinary method of spanking, a form of corporal punishment, was used by Amy and Joe when Ronny would get too out of control in his younger years. Although Ronny does not exhibit signs of aggression at his current age, spanking usually teaches aggression toward other people and manifests the belief that hitting is acceptable. Additionally, Spanking prevents inquisitive behavior and elicits inversion of emotions and behavior as the child matures. Studies say that spanking is no more effective than other methods of discipline and is not recommended as a method of disciplining children (McKinney, 2013). If Amy and Joe do decide to have another child, using corporal punishment as a method of discipline too frequently may result in aggressive behavior toward others and manifests the idea that hitting is an acceptable manner of behavior. As the child matures these habits could result in harm toward others, to the child, and could lead to a lifetime of delinquency (Gershoff,
2002).
A second weakness observed was the habit of drinking alcoholic beverages at family occasion. Joe stated that when Ronny would come to visit them, they would have a beer together and throw a barbecue. Although this activity fosters socialization and bonding, drinking alcohol may have drastic physical and psychological effects if not managed or limited. Also, Ronny being nineteen years old is still under the legal drinking age, which can have negative results with the law. Substance use at this age is dangerous on his health because under the influence of alcohol there is higher risk of behaviors that may result in unintentional injury and unprotected sex (McKinney, 2013).
The third weakness observed with this family is Ronny’s developmental task of Intimacy vs Isolation. Ronny has gotten out of a two year relationship with his girlfriend and also has separated from his family. Ronny stated that he was not interested in looking for another relationship at the moment but is willing to put effort into one if the right women comes along. Although he calls his parents every weekend, Ronny is still outside of his comfort zone and is vulnerable to exploitation. Furthermore, waiting too long in finding an intimate relationship puts Ronny at risk for alienated and loneliness. Teens that struggle with finding intimacy result in poor self-images and little confidence (McKinney, 2013). If Ronny has a hard time making friends in college it may result in demoralization and a fearful attitude about reaching out to others or responding to friendly overtures. The result of failure to find intimacy is isolation, which may manifest feelings of doubt about being competent or successful, and may become increasingly cut-off from school, family, and friends. Additionally, it makes the teen easy prey for involvement with the wrong kind of friends because of their yearning to belong.
Conclusion
The family proved to have the strength of family resiliency, having the ability to cultivate strengths to positively meet the challenges of life. The family show some weaknesses that can be managed by being clear about their family values, establishing good disciplinary habits and making decisions that each family member can live by. What every individual gains from their families in childhood will serve them with the unique personalities, talents, and attributes that are carried throughout their lives. Families are the social networks that contribute their learned experiences to create the society that they live in.
References
Allender, J.A.. Rector, C., & Warner, K.D. (2010). Theoretical bases for promoting family health.Community health nursing: Promoting and protecting the public’s health (pp. 476-493). Philadelphia
Cohn, D. (September 7, 2001). 4% of U.S. homes are multigenerational: Culture, finances dictate lifestyles. Washington Post, p. A8.
Gershoff, E. (n.d.). Is Corporal Punishment an Effective Means of Discipline?. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2002/06/spanking.aspx. McKinney, E. S., James, S. R., Murray, S. S., Nelson, K. A., & Ashwill, J. W. (2013). Maternal-Child Nursing (Fourth ed.). Canada: Elsevier.