Family Dynamics

Today, I covered for our "Home Ec" teacher while she attended a meeting for a few minutes.  I showed the students a video on family groups and then got them started on a timeline that was to include all the important people in their lives.

These are a few of the ones from the class.  Some have slightly different names.

Different Types of Families: A Portrait Gallery

Nuclear Families

• Approximately half of all families with youngsters under age 18 are composed of two biological parents and their children.

Single-Parent Families

• Single-parent families make up 27 percent of households with children under age 18.

Cross-Generational Families

• Approximately 670,000 families with children under age 18 have a family member age 65 or older living with them.
• Roughly 2.5 million children under age 18 live with one or both parents in their grandparents’ home.

Adoptive/Foster Families

• Approximately 120,000 children are adopted each year.
• 6.3 children per 1,000 live in out-of-home foster care.

Never-Married Families

• About 1.5 million unmarried couples have at least one child under age 15.

Blended Families

• About 20 percent of children in two-parent households live in blended families.

Grandparents as Parents

• Approximately 1.3 million children under age 18 live with their grandparents.

On her timeline, the teacher began with her parents, their divorce, their remarriages, her marriage, she and her husband having a biological child, she and her husband adopting 3 children, and ending with the birth of a grandchild.  I have not stopped to think about my family dynamics, so it gave me a moment to share a little about myself with the students as they began their timelines.

I was a part of a nuclear family, but I had grandparents who were close-by my whole life. We talked about leaning on family members and having extended families due to financial needs.  I explained the relationship and family dynamics with my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew, their nuclear family being a part of an extended family and living in a home with three generations. I, myself, thought I would have my own family, etc., but I am a single family taking care of another generation.

The lesson, as short as my time was, was very interesting and eye-opening.  I knew it, but to hear it was very eye-opening.  Many of the students were a part of a Never-Married Family, Single-Parent Family, families where students never knew their fathers, or with families with multiple generations living together.  If I had been able to do more with the class over a longer period of time, there is so much that could be done with differences and then building a classroom community.

It also made me even more grateful for the life I have led, having my grandparents so close, and the opportunity to have spent so much time with my niece and nephew in their early years.