Family Dynamics

1
Family Dynamics

• Types of Families

2
Actual Definition of Family

• 1 a group of individuals living under one roof
  and usually under one head According to
  Websters Dictionary 2008.

3
Important Definitions to Know

• Child Support-
• Financial support paid by a parent to help
  support a child or children of whom they do not
  have custody. Child support can be entered
  voluntarily or ordered by a court or a properly
  empowered administrative agency, depending on
  each states laws.
• Custodial Parent-
• Person with whom the child(ren) live with the
  majority of the time.
• Non-Custodial Parent-
• person with whom the children do not live with
  or live with half or less of the time.

4
Family

• Despite the changing lifestyles and
  ever-increasing personal mobility that
  characterize modern society, the family remains
  the central element of contemporary life.
• Families offer companionship, security, and a
  measure of protection against an often uncaring
  world. But family structure, like society at
  large, has undergone significant changes in the
  years since World War II. While the nuclear
  family -- with Dad, Mom, and offspring happily
  coexisting beneath one roof-remains the ideal,
  variations in family structure are plentiful --
  and often successful.

5
Nuclear Family

• The Nuclear Family is traditionally thought of as
  the parents and the siblings.
• A good example of a nuclear family would be?

6
The Extended Family

• The extended family refers to grandparents,
  aunts, uncles, and cousins. A strong relationship
  with your extended family can be just as
  rewarding as close ties inside the nuclear
  family.

7
Single Parents

• Numerous extenuating circumstances can result in
  a single parent. Traditionally, single parents
  are thought to be a product of a divorce, but a
  widower or a mother who had never been married
  can also be a single parent.  Regardless of the
  causes, single parents face an uphill battle.
  While being a single parent is difficult, it can
  be just as rewarding a traditional, nuclear
  family.
• A famous single parent family for an example
  could be?

8
Stepfamilies or Blended Families

• In past generations, stepfamilies were uncommon
  and most people did not know how to relate to
  them. Now, as the stigmas against divorce and
  remarriage continue to dissolve, more and more
  stepfamilies are coming together. While it's
  never easy to merge two families together,
  stepfamilies can be an opportunity to forge new,
  lasting, loving bonds.
• A famous blended family as an example would be?

9
Family Structures of the Past

• Divorce was very uncommon, just 50 years ago it
  was less than 15 of married couples divorced.
• Men were considered the breadwinners, and women
  were to run the household and raise the children.
  Think of the movie Mary Poppins, what role did
  women have and children have? The setting is
  1910. How are children raised?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vWDbOK_fDu9Y

10
Family Structure Today

• 67 of children today live with both parents.
• Children living in mother-only families is 24.
• Children living in father-only families is 5.
• Living without either parent (with other
  relatives or with nonrelatives) is 5.
• There are federal reforms to encourage two parent
  married homes for children. Why do you think the
  government is worried about single family homes?

11
What Effect Does Family Structure Have on
children?

• Economic suffering- With only one parent money is
  tighter, thus sometimes leading to deprivation of
  computers, clothes, the ability to go to good
  schools because of living in poor neighborhoods
  and so forth. Research showing that children do
  better at school and exhibit fewer behavioral
  problems when nonresident fathers or mothers pay
  child support.

12
What Effect Does Family Structure Have on
Children?

• Quality of Parenting- quality of parenting is one
  of the best predictors of children's emotional
  and social well-being. Many single parents,
  however, find it difficult to function
  effectively as parents. Compared with
  continuously married parents, they are less
  emotionally supportive of their children, have
  fewer rules, dispense harsher discipline, are
  more inconsistent in dispensing discipline,
  provide less supervision, and engage in more
  conflict with their children.
• Outcomes including poor academic achievement,
  emotional problems, conduct problems, low
  self-esteem, and problems forming and maintaining
  social relationships. Other studies show that
  depression among custodial mothers, which usually
  detracts from effective parenting, is related to
  poor adjustment among offspring.

13
What Effect Does Family Structure Have on
Children?

• Exposure to Stress- Children living with single
  parents are exposed to more stressful experiences
  and circumstances than are children living with
  continuously married parents. Economic hardship,
  unskilled parenting, and loss of contact with a
  parent can be stressful for children.

14
What about the children?

• Should parents stay together for the childrens
  sake?
• Why do you think the lower economic status groups
  (low income) has children outside of marriage?

15
Reflection

• Should marriage be forever?
• We vow often in front of God that we will be
  together till death do us partdo you think we
  should say it, if later we change our minds?
• If we remarry, is it just as important to take
  the other spouses kids, and treat as your own?