Family Obligations as the Youngest Child
The role taken on by the youngest child after a death in the family becomes quickly defined when there are no other male figures to become the head of the household. Marta’s father passed away during her adolescent years and she took it upon herself to take care of everyone, in particular her mother. She was the youngest daughter of four. With no brothers or other male figures in their home, she was raised in a matriarchal household.
According to Marta, being raised in a matriarchal household meant she had to control all the finances and maintenance of the vehicles because her mother had relied heavily on her father to take care of those type of things. “We are raised with some sense of it’s your responsibility to make sure that your parents are taken care of when you get older (Interview, Marta, January 29, 2016).” As her three sisters left home to start their own families, Marta stayed behind and now that she has started her own family, she continues living with her mother under the same household. Marta decisions were influences by the responsibility she felt she had as the youngest child.
She recalls that when in previous times, the youngest was not allowed to marry because their responsibility was to care for the parents during their old age. Although times were different the expectations she had for herself were to blend both her desire to care of her mother who never remarried and the family she had started. Besides economic incentives, family is a principal agent of identity development because it is often during our time with family that we learn about ourselves. Feelings such self-esteem, self-worth and love for family expressively impact an individual’s perception on how to th...
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...rtilla in the caldo de frijoles (Interview, Marta, January 29, 2016).
Being able to count on others that have experienced the joy of parenthood is vital to first time mothers. The children grow up emerged with a sense of generations of cultural traditions which helps establish a resilient racial identity. Decisions of cohabiting under a roof that involve her mother became easier as she was an additional resources for child care and child rearing practices (Welsh and Burton, 2015).
Establishing a social life takes time and once family life and occupation have adjusted and are under control, there could be hope of resuming a social life outside the roles of motherhood. In Marta’s case that became a New Years’ resolution since a mother’s well-being does not solemnly involved taking care of others but also remembering that if she feels fulfilled it will be projected.
Taylor and Lou Ann demonstrate a symbiotic relationship between the roles and characteristics in a family. Edna Poppy and Virgie Mae replaces the missing physical and emotional traits in a stable household. The examples tie into the fact that not all families in this book match “the norms” and expectations, but are equally valued, blood or
Families are becoming more diverse and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some people consider families to be strictly biological, while others consider people they love to be their family. Although two-parent families, also known as a nuclear family are the majority, one-parent families are becoming more common in today’s society. A sole-parent is considered to be a parent without a partner or spouse who is the primary care giver of one or more children in a household (Ministry of Social Development, 2010). From the age of 14 onward I was raised by m...
...en-year-old girl”. She has now changed mentally into “someone much older”. The loss of her beloved brother means “nothing [will] ever be the same again, for her, for her family, for her brother”. She is losing her “happy” character, and now has a “viole[nt]” personality, that “[is] new to her”. A child losing its family causes a loss of innocence.
A family is a group of people consisting of the parents and their children who live together and they are blood related. The family is always perceived as the basic social units whether they are living together in the same compound or at far distance but are closely related especially by blood. Therefore, the family unit has had a great influence on the growth and the character traits possessed by the children as they grow up and how they perceive the society they live in. the family also shapes the children to be able to relate well with other people that are not part of their family and with a good relationship it impacts to the peace achieved in country. This paper addresses the reasons as to why the family is considered the most important agent of socialization. It’s evident that families have changed over time and they have adopted different ways of living. This paper also tackles on the causes of the dramatic changes to the American family and what the changes are. Different people with different race, gender and preferences make the family unit and this makes the difference in marriages. This will also be discussed in this paper.
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
Eva’s lack of value for motherhood shaped the lives of her family as well as her own. Because of her negative feelings toward motherhood, many of the people surrounding her have similar values. Eva reflects her community’s negative perception of motherhood by being straightforward about it and passing it down through her family
Since the 20th century, researchers have sought out solutions to help assist families and the individual components that make up family systems overcome the challenges and schisms that can inhibit individuation and stability. Two theoretical perspectives, the family-systems theory and the family-development theory, were conceived to gain as Balswick & Balswick (2014) noted, gain “a wide-angle view of family life” (p. 22). Though these two theories have merit, one I found to be more advantageous in gaining a better understanding of the family as an actively metastasizing organism, which needs to be approached more adaptively.
When women are kept in their classical role of mother and caretaker, all is well and their lives are simple. Children relate positively to their mothers in this typical setting; while Dantés was in prison, during a time of distress, he remembered something his mother had done for him. For example, Dumas writes, “He remembered the prayers his mother had taught him and found meanings in them which he had formerly been unaware.” (41). Mothers teach their children to the best of their ability, evidenced in Dantés, as well as when Caderousse says Mercédès is instructing her son, Albert. It is in these moments that a mother’s love, compassion, and necessity are revealed. Lives are calm and enriched as long as women are in their niche. This includes non-maternal nurturing roles, for example, Mercédès attentiveness to Dantés father and Valentine’s special ability to care for Nortier. This loyalty is valued and shown as essential for the stability of life. Though The Count of Monte Cristo depicted women as best suited to the home, they intermittently stepped further out of that r...
Differentiation of self, which notes that the family is the primary impact of a person’s personal development.
My motivation to research, discover, and stimulate social change is rooted in my childhood experiences. As a young child I grew up in a household filled with domestic violence, which ultimately ended with the suicide of my father. I subsequently came to know a variation of the typical American nuclear family: a single parent household. As I began to study family dynamics further, I was able to see my life experiences in a broader context. In hindsight, I now realize the impact and weight my own mother had on my personal development. It was through her strength, determination, and optimism that I was able to find the spark within myself to set goals and dreams for my future. She encouraged me never to accept anything at face value, including the way our society attempts to define my womanhood. As a result of this, I now question American culture’s classification of a ‘successful’ family and the factors that determine a ‘stable’ family.
The family is the main agent of socialisation and an institution. (Giddens, 2013:339). As children, we rely on our family to fulfil basic needs. We all need guidance, and more importantly we also require nurturing to become healthy adults. The definition of family varies across cultures. However, the family is sensitive to change and, therefore, not static. The structure of the family has changed, and culture and society are now more accepting of the fact that people now choose to cohabit, rather than marry. (Haralambos & Holborn 2009:3). In 2013, there were nearly 1.9 million lone parent households with dependent children in the United Kingdom; a figure which has steadily increased over the years (Office of National Statistics 2013). The rise in lone parents has brought about greater acceptance of pregnancies that do not have to involve marriage although acceptance is not the concern. A study suggests that….
Reviewing single-parent families, the challenges seem to outweigh the advantages. Since a majority of single parents are mothers, all the burdens normally carried out by two people fall upon women (Lauer, 2012). Raising a child with both parents is a hard enough task, but being on your own creates issues within issues, no matter what your race or
There are many types of family that exists in today’s society, each important to the upbringing of any children of which may be apart of it.
Family is arguably the most important social institution in an individual's life. A family is defined as a group of individuals that are related through blood ties, adoption or marriage, that form an economic unit, where the adult members are responsible for the upbringing of children. As a social institution, families change over time, but are usually the first and most important social part of an individual’s life. Education also prepares young people for entry into adulthood and is therefore a form of socialization.
Everyone is born into some form of family, with the family taking the responsibility of nurturing, teaching the norms or accepted behaviors within the family structure and within society. There are many types of families, which can be described as a set of relationships including parents and children and can include anyone related by blood or adoption. Family is the most important, “for it is within the family that the child is first socialized to serve the needs of the society and not only its own needs” (Goode, 1982).