Description Of My Family Of Origin

Description of my family of origin
I am from the Caribbean Island of Jamaica. I grew up in a very small farm town where everyone knew each other. I grew up very poor. I am number four of seven children for my mother. Only the first four children are for my father. The others are half sibling even though I do not consider them as such. When I was born, my father was in the United States on Farm Work. I did not meet my father until I was approximately 9 years old. My father decided to stay in the country illegally when it was his time to return from farm work. He then decided to marry to secure legal status in this country. From his marriage, he had two other children and a stepson. He did his best to take care of us by sending money, shipping clothes and other items when he could.
Due to poverty, sometimes things were very difficult for my mother. She struggled to provide us with the basic necessities. We barely had food to eat; however, I noticed that sometimes that my grandparents, aunts, and other family and community members would send us food and my mother would reciprocate. Everyone looked out for one another. Our unofficial babysitter was our entire community. When we misbehaved, they would notify our parents. Irrespective of our proverty, she was the most giving person I have ever met. She would give away the last penny she had. My mother was a Christian and implanted in us Christian principles. At that time, we learned about Christ in school, in church and at home. My mother though was somewhat proud and a perfectionist. She cautioned us not to beg anyone anything. She was also stern and placed emphasis on us doing our best in everything. In spite of lack of resources, education was emphasized. Knowledge is one of th...

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...heir positive growth and development?
According to Jenson & Fraser (2016), “children, youth, and families face enormous challenges in America society” (p.6). They further explained that, children experience issues of poor performance in school, dropout, and substance abuse, deprivation of basic resources and lack of safety. In my opinion, youths are face with an individualistic society. Therefore, some have experienced entitlement issues and have exhibited disrespectful behavior patterns. It is disappointing today that the emphasis is placed on our outer appearance while many children that I have encountered are starving for love and affection. My mother told me of parents who were not employed taking their children to daycare. Some parents are actually children themselves and do not have the necessary skills to teach their children what they need to be successful.