Module 2
The
key to Head Start's effectiveness has been its comprehensiveness that centers
on the family The child is not pulled away from the family, but the family
grows as the child grows.
-Head
Start Director, Alabama
Outcomes
After
completing this module, participants will be able to:
- Support the family partnership agreement process by exploring
family growth and development with families;
- Recognize how families change, grow, and develop overtime;
- Use the family life cycle to identify family strengths and challenges;
and
- Assess the impact of significant life events on families.
- The Family. Each family defines itself. Diversity in family composition
is the norm today. Marriage, co-habitation, partnering, birth, adoption,
foster- and step-parenting, divorce, and death all influence the composition
of "family." An enrolled Head Start family consists of, but is not limited
to, a child and a parent(s) or guardian. A broad and inclusive definition
of family recognizes all family members, ties, and variations in composition.
- Family Responsibilities. Each family is charged with fulfilling
certain responsibilities in order for its members to successfully grow and
develop. Families have many functions and responsibilities; they must provide
their members with food, shelter, clothing, and other basic necessities.
Families are also responsible for basic health care and wellness, education
and socialization, and family maintenance.
- Family Growth. Family growth is the development of the family
over time. As families change and evolve, they move through stages of development.
The specific path of each family's growth is the result of its composition,
culture, and adaptation to the challenges of today's world. This unique
path is illustrated by the family life cycle.
- Family Life Cycle. The family life cycle is a way of illustrating
the family's growth and development over time, it recaps all the events
and important occurrences in a family's life. These occurrences, or significant
life events, may be life transitions, family-initiated changes, unexpected
changes or crises, and traumas.
- Family Supports. Family supports are the skills, opportunities,
experiences, and resources that help families fulfill their responsibilities,
grow and develop, overcome challenges, and achieve success.
This module focuses on one interaction of the family partnership agreement
process: exploring family growth. The information gathered during the exploration
of family growth often provides the foundation for supporting families based
on their interests, strengths, goals, and needs-the basis of the family partnership
agreement. There are several advantages to exploring family growth. First,
the uniqueness of each family is reinforced. Second, family strengths are
identified, including family responsibilities, supports, and coping skills.
Third, staff recognize the changes of the family over time. Fourth, exploring
family growth helps Head Start programs and community partners become aware
of and responsive to the challenges of families.
The Family
The dictionary defines "family" as a group of people related by ancestry
or marriage, or a group of people living in the same household. However, a
family is not defined only by ancestry, marriage, or a defined living space.
Diversity in family composition and lifestyle is inherent in today's world.
In working with families, staff must move beyond a traditional definition
of family to one that recognizes that each family is unique. Head Start realizes
that a broad and inclusive definition of family embraces all family ties and
variations in composition-recognizing group homes, extended family, adoptive
and blended families, foster-parents, and unmarried partners living together
as families.
Family Responsibilities
Responsibilities vary from family to family. The priority assigned to each
responsibility also varies with each family and is greatly influenced by culture,
tradition, and environment. Most families, however, assume the following basic
responsibilities:
- Economic Support. Meeting life-sustaining needs is considered
to be the primary responsibility of families. Therefore, the family is the
social unit that provides food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities
for its members.
- Health Care and Wellness. Meeting the basic health care needs
of children and other family members, and caring for sick, mentally or physically
disabled, and aged relatives is a crucial function of the family. Another
function of the family is to protect its members against emotional, physical,
and sexual abuse and social violence.
- Education and Socialization. The family is the primary educator
of its children and is responsible for transmitting social and cultural
values. Social values are transmitted by setting. teaching, and enforcing
rules, norms, and appropriate behaviors. Cultural socialization involves
transmitting ethnic and religious values and traditions.
- Family Maintenance. Families are the main providers of the emotional
nurturance, intimacy, understanding, and support that sustains them.
Family Growth
Just as individuals reach new levels of maturity over time, so does the family.
Generally, as families grow, they move through five stages: 1) formation,
2) expansion, 3) cooperation. 4) independence, and 5) launching. However,
variations in composition (e.g., two-parent, single-parent, step-parent, foster-
parent, partners raising children, and extended families living in the same
household), as well as cultural and environmental factors, affect each family's
development. Families may experience challenges or interruptions in their
development, repeat or skip a stage, or be in more than one stage at any given
time.
- Formation
As young adults become independent, they begin to redefine themselves and their families. As this occurs, they often begin to shift away from bonds with parental figures and toward forming their own new family. During this transition, a new family identity emerges that is often marked by a hopeful outlook about the future.
At the same time, parental figures must adjust and learn to respond to the new family with respect. Unfair expectations of new family members or differences in personal and family values can cause serious conflict.
- Expansion
The second stage is marked by additions to the family. These additions, which require many changes within the family, include the birth of a child, caring for elderly parents, blending step-family members, and uniting extended families. During this stage, the family must reorganize to include new members. With the arrival of additional members, new family roles and responsibilities are defined, and new systems of support are created.
Conflicts at this stage can arise regarding children's behavior, parenting responsibilities, parenting styles, finances, and support systems. Families can use supportive resources (within and outside the family system) to avoid or resolve these conflicts and handle frustration and stress. Seeking to enhance parenting and communication skills, turning to extended family members and friends for support, and finding acceptable ways to reduce stress are strategies that can help families during this stage.
- Cooperation
During this stage, families must transfer some responsibility of and control over their children to others. As children begin to participate in child care, Head Start, school, or community activities, a natural process of individuation takes place. Children take on roles as students and playmates, with some separated from the full-time care of their parents for the first time. At this stage, school-age children are better able to care for themselves and contribute to the family system that supports them. Parents are often freer of child care responsibilities, providing them greater opportunity to pursue employment, education, or other activities outside the family.
Challenges in this stage are related primarily to the child's participation in activities outside the family, which promote individual growth. Two beliefs can influence the child's development and contribute to conflicts: 1) the world is unsafe and cannot be trusted to take good care of the child; and 2) the child is an extension of the parents and, therefore, any behavior of the child is a reflection on the parents. Families that are able to trust other people and accept differences among family members develop parent-and-child roles that complement each other.
- Independence
As children reach adolescence, they begin a process of disengaging from their parents, establishing their own identities, and becoming independent decision makers. At the same time, parents begin to change their parenting role by becoming more flexible and open to negotiation. Family rules and boundaries must be adjusted to allow the adolescent to move in and out of the family system. Tension frequently characterizes this stage as adolescents and parents differ in their ideas of appropriate behaviors and limits.
The adolescent's search for independence requires movement outward from the family. However, two potential problems exist with this separation: the family can prematurely push the adolescent out, or it can refuse to let the adolescent go. If the family system is able to let the adolescent question parental authority and look outside the family for additional sources of support and identity, parents and adolescents will be able to become independent successfully. In turn, the adolescent will be able to face the adult world with the confidence born of a strong self identity.
- Launching
As adolescents become young adults, their independence from parental figures becomes more defined. This stage involves parents letting go of their children by establishing adult-to-adult relationships with them Parents must learn to support their adult children, and children must give up their dependent role in relation to their parents. With the establishment of these new roles comes an increase of time and energy available for other pursuits. Children nearing adulthood often pursue stronger peer relationships, education, and work, and, perhaps, choose a partner.
Conflicts arise when adolescents or parents see "launching" as threatening or unacceptable. For some parents, this is a troubling time, and they may experience depression in anticipation of the adolescent's departure from the family. Those who have devoted themselves to parenting may become depressed over the "empty nest." Others may experience feelings of rejection or failure due to rare or infrequent contact with their children. Children, too, may have difficulties at this time. Some may feel troubled by parents whom they see as interfering in their lives or as financial or psychological burdens. Other adolescents may not be able to leave because they see themselves as their parents' sole confidantes or as the mediators of conflicts between their parents. In essence, they believe the family cannot survive without them.
The Family Life Cycle
The family life cycle is a way of illustrating the family's growth and development
over time; it recaps all the significant life events or important occurrences
in a family's life. Significant life events can present both opportunities
and challenges to families in meeting their responsibilities. Types of significant
life events include:
- Life Transitions: Moving from one stage of family development
to the next, such as individuals becoming parents, children beginning school,
or children leaving home;
- Family-Initiated Changes: Major events introduced by the family,
such as divorce, returning to school, marriage, co-habitation, moving to
a new neighborhood, or finding a new job;
- Unexpected Changes: Unanticipated or unforeseen events, such as
an unplanned pregnancy, eviction, the onset of a chronic illness, or a sudden
job transfer; and
- Traumas: A painful emotional or physical experience, such as a
serious injury or death of a family member, a natural disaster, or a violent
crime.
Family supports are the opportunities, experiences, and resources that help
families fulfill their responsibilities, grow and develop, overcome challenges,
achieve their goals, and celebrate success. Supports may be internal or external
to the family.
- Internal supports are the skills, characteristics, mechanisms,
or resources that help families cope with change. These supports include
family practices and routines that help to buffer some of the impact
of significant life events; strengths, such as effective communication,
negotiation, parenting; decision making, and coping skills; family history,
traditions, culture, and celebrations;'econ6mic resources; and family members.
- External supports include a full range of informal and formal
resources, ranging from social activities to specialized professional services
that can help a family meet its responsibilities. External sources of support
include personal networks such as friends, co-workers, and neighbors; social
and religious institutions and organizations, as well as community groups
and recreational facilities; and specialized human services and educational
institutions and programs such as schools, Head Start, public and private
social service agencies, and early intervention programs.
Next Steps:
Ideas to Extended Practice
Follow-up strategies to reinforce the concepts and skills taught in Module 2 are presented below. After completing Module 2, review the strategies with staff and help them choose at least one to work on individually or as part of a team.
- Learning About Family Diversity
Using handout 3 from this module, have staff and Head Start parents develop life cycle charts. Have parents and staff discuss: 1) similarities and differences in their life cycle charts; 2) the information these charts give to staff and families; and 3) the different ways these life cycle charts can be used to identify and respond to the challenges of Head Start families. Encourage the group to share their life cycle findings with other members of the Head Start community.
- Assessing the Impact of Significant Life Events
Have staff watch a movie with a family story (for example, Ordinary People, Kramer vs Kramer, Guess Who Coming to Dinner, Parenthood, Dim Sum, Crooklyn) and ask them to pick a significant life event depicted in the movie. Ask staff to discuss the impact of this event on the family. Handout 6 may assist staff in completing this activity.
- Connecting with External Supports
Make a list of several agencies in the community that provide support to families. From the list, have staff choose an agency and arrange an interview with a staff member to discuss the agency's supports, services, and referral process. Ask staff to share the information with co-workers who visited other agencies, and discuss similarities and differences in agency services and how the services might be useful to families.
| Handouts | Activity |
| Handout 1 | Activity 1 |
| Handout 2 | Activity 2 |
| Handout 3 | Activity 3 |
| Handout 4 | |
| Handout 5 | |
| Handout 6 | |
| Handout 7 | |
| Handout 8 | |
| Handout 9 |