Vygotsky's Family Systems Theory

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Vygotsky argued, "learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organized, specifically human psychological function" (1978, p. 90). In other words, social learning tends to precede development. Vygotsky 's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of "making meaning." Bronfenbrenner believed that a person 's development was affected by everything in their surrounding environment. He divided the person 's environment into five different levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. The microsystem is the system closest …show more content…

The macrosystem encompasses the cultural environment in which the person lives and all other systems that affect them. The chronosystem includes the transitions and shifts in one 's lifespan. This may also involve the socio-historical contexts that may influence a person. Simply being aware of many environmental influences can impact the development of the child is not sufficient. The family systems theory is a theory introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen that suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their family, as the family is an emotional unit. Families are systems of interconnected and interdependent individuals, none of whom can be understood in isolation from the system. There are many challenges when taking in grandchildren, some are temporary caused by such things as serious illness of a parent, military service, transitions that come with divorce, mid year move and the decision to let the kids finish out the year in their school before joining their parent. Some are permanent due to the early death of parents, long-term and incapacitating illness, parental substance abuse, incarceration, homelessness, teen pregnancy and unreadiness to be a parent, child abuse or …show more content…

All of these things can affect the grandparents feelings, the children 's feelings, the grandparents relationship with their adult children, the relationship with the grandchildren, the health, finances and social isolation. There are many benefits as well the grandparents have a second chance at parenting, closer relationship with their grandchildren, the chance to make a difference in a childs life, having a greater purpose in living, it can increase your tolerance for the younger generation and it can help keep grandparents young and active. Children raised by grandparents may express feelings of abandonment, even though they are grateful to their grandparents for taking care of them (Saltzman & Pakan, 1996). I believe as an educator schools can contribute significantly with helping grandparents cope with stresses of parenting. School staff may need to learn to recognize and accept strong feelings experienced with each member of the family. It can sometimes be a very delicate and stressful situation when dealing with situations like this. As an educator you have to be able to show support with the family and work together with any counseling that might be

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