Family Structures and af Legacies One Filipino family trait that is known across different races is establishing and having strong family ties Family, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the basic unit of society. It is composed of individuals living together in one household either connected by marriage, blood, or by legal arrangement. One of the family structures and the most common kind of structure dominated the Philippines is the ‘extended family” on which, we are fond of being in the same roof together with our mother, father, aunts, uncles, grandfather, grandmother, and cousins. In a typical Filipino family, though an adult female member gets married, the groom will bring her to their house to live in, However, as time goes by, this culture changes and varies, family by family across generations In this module, we will study the different family structures, how they differ from one another, family legacies, and how family affects you as a developing individual. How does your family contribute in your middle and late adolescents?Family defined Family comes from the Latin word familia which means group of people living in the household. Family could be related by blood, by birth, or by other relationship. Family is the basic unit of society. It is the smallest organization in the community. It is said to be a group of individual living together in one household. Family comes in different forms. It could vary from one family to another. It is usually composed of mother, father and children; some other includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other relatives. ‘Types of Family Structures Family structures differ from one family to another, that is why we should not compare our family with that of others. ‘The following table lists the different family structures. Table 1. Family Structures Family Definition Example Structure Nuclear Family | It is also known as “conjugal” or Mother, father, and “traditional” family, consisting of | children married couples and their offspring. Extended This type of family includes all A family living together Family relatives in proximity, such as with mother, father, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and —_| children, grandparents, cousins. These relatives typically _| aunts, uncles, and live together, and all share daily other relatives in one household duties roof, Single Parent This family type includes one parent | Father with his Family and their children only. A single children or a mother parent family could be the result of | with her children living a divorce, the death of one parent, | in one household or even a single parent adoption. ‘Step Family A family where the parents have Mother, children, divorced and remarried, bringing stepfather, and his kids children from other unions together | Father, children, to form a new nuclear family. stepmother, and her It is also known as “blended” family | “ds because two families were combined.Foster Family A family inchades parent who serves as a temporary guardian for one or more children to whom they may or may not be biologically related. Parents, children, foster child Adopted /Adopt | A family wherein parents may adopt | Parents (mother and ive Family a child to whom they share no blood | father), adopted child relationship, or one parent may adopt the child of the other parent. Bi-racial or A family wherein parents are from | Filipina mother, Multi-racial | different races American father, Family children, Trans-racial | A family wherein parents adopted a | American parents, Adoptive child with a different race adopted Filipino Family children Conditionally | A family wherein one of the family __| A family living together Separated members is conditionally separated | except for the father Family from the others. This separation _| working abroad or a may be due to their job or family living together employment or could be due to except for the eldest hospitalization. child serving in the military Childless Married couple without children Mother and father only Family Gay or Lesbian Family A family wherein one or both parents have a different sexual orientation and part of the LGBT community Alesbian mother and her children with a gay father ‘Migrant Family | It is a family who settles together in | A family who migrated a different place; it could be from _| from a place because one place to another due to some _| the father is a military circumstances such as the father’s | officer job. Immigrant A family wherein one or both Santos family whose Family parents are already an immigrant of | mom is already an other country. Their children may be or may not be an immigrant. immigrant of Canada — their mother is already a Canadian citizen but the rest of the family members are not.Family The most important people in the lives of young children are their parents. From birth, children depend on their mothers and fathers. There are also people that act parent roles in caring and protecting children’s overall well-being. They are known as “guardians”. While parents are filled with expectation about their children’s personalities, many also lack knowledge on how to provide the best for them. Becoming a parent is usually a welcomed event, but in some cases, parents are worried with problems regarding their ability to ensure their child’s physical, emotional, or economic well-being. Parents utilize resources which they think guarantee positive experiences for their children. Each of us have legacies passed from our ancestors, from generation to generation such as culture, traditions, and customs. No matter who we are, where we live, we have one thing in common—heritage. This heritage is transferred to us by our parents whether good or bad. This heritage is also called legacy, which could be passed to us socially, emotionally or spiritually. ‘Transferring positive legacy to children is a delicate and important task of adults in the family. It helps dictate the future progress and development of a child. It is important to remember that passing on a spiritual, emotional, and social legacy is a process, not an event. If parents do not intentionally pass a legacy consistent to their beliefs, culture will pass along its own, often leading to a negative end. Parents are responsible on the process; God is responsible for the product. ‘The Emotional Legacy In order to prosper, children need an enduring sense of security and stability nurtured in an environment of safety and love. Unfortunately, many people struggle to overcome a negative emotional legacy that hinder their ability to cope with the inevitable struggles of life. This is where a family’s important role takes its place. A family can create an atmosphere that provides a child’s fragile spirit with the nourishment and support needed for healthy emotional growth. It will require time and consistency to develop a sense of emotional wholeness, but the rewards are great. A strong emotional legacy: provides a safe environment in which deep emotional roots can grow fosters confidence through stability conveys a tone of trusting support nurtures a strong sense of positive identity creates a “resting place” for the soul demonstrates unconditional love Which characteristics or emotional legacy did your parents pass on to you? Which characteristics would you like to build into the legacy that you may pass to your future children?The Social Legacy ‘To really succeed in life, children need to learn more than management strategies, accounting, reading, writing, and geometry. They need to learn the art of relating to people--the art of socialization. If they learn how to relate well to others, they will have advantage in living life. Children need to gain the insights and social skills necessary to cultivate healthy and stable relationships. As children mature, they must learn to relate to family members, teachers, peers, friends, and community. Eventually, they must learn to relate to coworkers and many other types of people in their surroundings. Nowhere can appropriate social interaction and relationships be demonstrated more effectively than in the home. At home, children can learn lessons about respect, courtesy, love, and involvement. Parents play a key role in modelling and passing social legacy. Key building blocks of children’s social legacy include: respect, beginning with themselves and working out to other people responsibility, fostered by respect for themselves, that is cultivated by assigning children duties within the family, making them accountable for their actions, and giving them room to make wrong choices once in a while * unconditional love and acceptance by their parents, combined with conditional acceptance when the parents discipline for bad behavior or actions + the setting of social boundaries concerning how to relate to God, authority, peers, the environment and siblings «rules that are given within a loving relationship ‘The Spiritual Legacy ‘The Spiritual Legacy is the least in priority, but that is a mistake. As spiritual beings, we adopt attitudes and beliefs about spiritual matters from one person or another. Parents need to take the initiative and present faith to their children, Parents who successfully pass along a spiritual legacy to their children model and reinforce the unseen realities of the godly life. We must recognize that passing a spiritual legacy means more than encouraging our children to attend church, as important as that is. The church is there to support parents in raising their children but it cannot do the raising; only parents can. Parents are primary in spiritual upbringing, Children, perceive God the way they perceive their parents. If parents are loving, affirming, forgiving and yet strong in what they believe, children will think of God that way. Here are five things you do that predict whether your children will receive the spiritual legacy a Christian parent desires. Do you: 1, Acknowledge and reinforce spiritual realities? Do your children know, for example, that Jesus loves everyone? That God is personal, loving and will forgive us? View God as a personal, caring being who is to be loved and respected? Make spiritual activities a routine part of life? Clarify timeless truth — what is right and wrong? Incorporate spiritual principles into everyday living. (SOURCE: Your Heritage, by J. Otis Ledbetter and Kurt Bruner.) wserMake a Genogram and Trace Certain Physical, Personality, or Behavioral Attributes through Generations “When a picture depicts thousand words.” Grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, son, daughter, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, and nephew are but just of the few words you will use in making family genogram. You will be able to identify various family members in your family as well as other members of your kin when illustrating your family genogram. In this lesson, let us learn more about how your family genogram will help you trace physical, personality, or behavioral attributes through generations. As a student, you will be able to recognize your family members and describe each of them. You need to do some activities in this lesson. Also, medical, social, emotional and mental relationships in the family will be represented to help you focus on the family information you want to know and further evaluate. Tracing our family history may not only give us ideas of who are the prominent individuals who belong to our family tree but most significantly, it will help us grow better. You will not only learn who your family is but how everyone is connected. For instance, a family genogram can tell you who is married, widowed, divorced, and the like.Genogram Defined A genogram (pronounced: jen-uh-gram) is a graphic representation of a family tree that displays detailed data on relationships among individuals. A genogram is a more complex family tree because it describes not only the family’s physical and social relationships, but also the emotional connections and other family attributes Genograms were first developed and popularized in clinical settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through the publication of a book in 1986. Genograms are now used by various groups of people in a variety of fields such as medicine, psychology, social work, genealogy, genetic research, and education. A genogram is also known as a MeGoldrick-Gerson study (Jolly ct al., 1980) It goes beyond a traditional family tree by allowing the user to visualize hereditary patterns and psychological factors that punctuate relationships. It can be used to identify repetitive patterns of behavior and to recognize hereditary tendencies (Friedman et al, 1988) Murray Bowen invented the concept of the genogram as part of his family systems model in the 1970s. Genograms were later developed and popularized in clinical settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson through the publication of a book titled Genograms: Assessment and Intervention in 1985. Genograms are now used by various groups of people in a variety of fields such as medicine, psychiatry, psychology, social work, genetic research, education, and many more. Some practitioners in personal and family therapy use genograms for personal records and/or to explain family dynamics to the client. Genogram Symbols A genogram is a family tree or map or history that uses special symbols to describe relationships of family members over multiple generations. Like any other graphic organizer, genogram makes it easy for a person to present and comprehend certain information. Figure 1. Basic Genogram Symbols Male symbol Female symbol Pregnancy Gay symbol qao@bo Lesbian symbolMarried —— separated HE Divorced X deat AAO) contituat relationship Very close relationship O) Distant relationship Additional genogram symbols Death No Gender Pet Adopted child Foster child Pregnancy Miscarriage Abortion Fraternal twins Identical twins Figure 2. Emotional Relationships Genogram Symbols oOFigure 3. Medical Genogram Symbols Substance Abuse Heart Disease Breast Cancer Diabetes Alzheimer Disease Down Syndrome Depression Smoking How to Draw Genogram: Steps 1 Know your reason for making a genogram to help you determine the type of family information you want to indicate. Name all the members of your family kinship that you wanted to include in your genogram, Organize questions to gather facts and figures about your relatives to be included in the genogram Write down notes how everyone in your family is connected. Solicit information starting with the oldest generation down the line.