My Extended Family: Analysis Of An Extended Family

As I sat down to begin creating my kinship diagram, I thought about who should and should not be put on it. In the end, the only real conclusion that made sense to me was to include my immediate family and some extended family (aunts, uncles, etc). Then there came the question of how much of my extended family because a diagram like that could go on forever. I decided it would make most sense to me to include aunts, uncles, cousins, their spouses, and end with grandparents.
I included spouses not related by blood because they have been married into the family since before I was born, so even without blood relations they are kin to me. They are also the mothers and fathers of my cousins who I share blood with, which makes me feel like they

I care for them, love them, and treat them as if they were my own, so it made me a little sad to think they would not count because of what some other people think. I raised my goats from babies, bottle fed them and everything like a real mom. I take care of my puppies when they get sick, take them to the doctor, make them meals. Everything I do is like a mom except they do not go to school. They stress me out, are the cause of most of my frustrations but also for most of my happiness. I am very glad they did count, and seeing the line connecting me to them as my mother made me very

The term ‘kin’ is so broad and does not have a simple or definite definition, which made this assignment seem difficult at first. I was nervous to try to create something when I did not have a clear understanding of what the main concept was. Once I did some rereading and looked carefully over the prompt, though, it actually seemed rather simple. I realized there was no wrong answer, or just one answer, which actually made it much simpler. It gave me more to work with and more room to think and be creative with my thoughts. Sorting out who I considered kin and not was still a little difficult because I, myself, was not even sure who I thought of as kin. I had never thought about it or made a kin chart before now, so it really forced me to think hard. Before, whenever the term ‘kin’ was brought up, I never thought about it deeply. I thought kinship was a simple concept, so I never delve into it. This makes me wonder how much else I have not thought about critically