Queen’s College

Jasiah Langhorne Grade8D

Home Economics 10thOctober,2020
Assignment
 Home economics Assignment
Question #1
In the expansion stage of the family life cycle there will be many
challenges name Four challenges and discuss ways how parents
and children overcame them.
Question #2
2.Through some misfortune your aunt, uncle and cousin have
come to live with you and your family for an indefinite period. List
FOUR conflicts the family will face and discuss possible solutions
that will help the family through these difficult times.
Introduction
The family life cycle is as series of stages through which a family
may pass over time. The family life cycle emphasizes the effects
of marriage, divorce, births, and deaths on families, as well as
changes in income, expenses and assets.
This assignment will outline the expansion stage of the family.
challenges, overcoming these challenges, conflicts and solutions
in an extended family.
Challenges and solutions in the expansion stage of a
family
Challenges facing parents in the expansions stage:
Financial challenges
In the expansion stage of most families, parents may
face financial hardships in providing for their offspring if that
family has too much debt. This may result in them not being
able to provide their child with the basic needs or supplies
during his/her childhood.
Possible solutions to financial problems
Although there are many solutions to financial
problem, I believe parents and children can overcome them
by parents having more than one form of income. This will
not put pressure on parents to fulfill the needs for their
children such as food, clothing and shelter.
Children can also contribute to the family by having
part time jobs after school. This will help with additional
expenses when that child needs things .This form of
contribution by children is practice in many countries in the
world.

1
Parenting adolescent
 Most teens experiment with different thoughts, beliefs,
and styles which can cause family conflict. Your strengths as
an individual and as part of a couple are critical as you deal
with the increasing challenges of raising a teenager.
Strive for a balance atmosphere in which your teenager
has a sense of support and emotional safety as well as
opportunities to try new behaviors.

Possible solution to parenting teenagers’ problems

Possible solution to this is to establish boundaries for
your teenager, but encourage exploration at the same time.
Teens may question themselves in many areas including
their sexuality, self-esteem and making meaningful
connections with peers. It is suggested that shifting parent-
child relationships to allow the child to move in and out of
the family system e.g. If the child becomes uncomfortable
and starts to lash out and does not want to stay at home
parents can find a place where their child can be safe with
other family they trust.
You could also shift focus back to your midlife
relationship and career issues. Lastly, beginning a shift
toward concern for older generations in your extended
family.

2
Parenting young children
 Adapting children into other relationships is a key
emotional process of this stage. You will be taking on the
parenting role transitioning from couple to parent.
Your child’s healthy development depends on your ability
to provide a safe, loving, and organized environment.
Children cut into the amount of time you might otherwise
spend alone, on hobbies or with your partner. If you did not
fully develop some skills in previous phases such as
comprise for good of the family, your relationship may be
strained.

Possible solutions to parenting children problems

Solution would be adjusting your martial system to
make space for child or children. In this case the child or
children are now the focus in the family. Both partners must
agree for this to be a success otherwise it would fail.
Another would be taking on parenting roles. Realigning
your relationships with your extended family to include
parenting by both parents and grandparents

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Psychological
 In the expansion stage of a family in certain
situations the parent or parents may face psychological
challenges. This is the affecting or arising in the mind related
to the mental and emotional state of a person. These
challenges may come from an unhealthy marriage, illness,
lack of proper care for family by family members or from
their offspring.
If these psychological challenges are not dealt with
carefully it may worsen overtime affecting the child
negatively. It may also affect the parent leading to
depression or parent leaving the home because they can’t
face the pressure. In many cases the relationship with
children or child is strained.
Possible solutions to Psychological problems
Possible solutions for this challenge is by providing
the child, parent or parents with counselling or therapy. This
will take the participants through the process of talking
about and working through their personal problems with the
counsellor.
The counsellor helps the participants to address
problems in a positive way, by helping them to clarify the
issues explore options and develop strategies and self-
awareness. Although therapy and counselling may seem the
same they are not but their objective are to help individuals
change behaviors to overcome problems in desired ways

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Conflicts and solutions in an extended family.
 Lack of privacy
In an extended family household, it is common that there
would be a lack of privacy due to number of family members
living under the same roof.
Lack of privacy may be a problem when the family have
adopted an open house policy where other siblings, friends
and their parents wonder in and out at will. This may result to
conflicts between family members relating to personal
events between one member to another.
Possible solution to lack of privacy problems
Possible solution would be providing boundaries
between family members relating to their personal space.
It is suggested that family members with the use of
boundary identify or make known where their boundary lies.
What can be used with their permission and what cannot be
used without their permission. Eliminate taking things that
will cause conflict.

5
Too much burden on few individuals
 In an extended family certain individual may be required
to acquire an equally large burden. Few family members may
have to take on the majority of chores and responsibility this
is particularly true if there are many dependent in the family.
That individual may have to attend to grandparents that
are disabled and also care for their own children because of
the family dynamics.
Possible solutions to burden on individual family
members
In the case where the individuals are over burden
special care and consideration must be given to these
persons because they can suffer from burn out or become
frustrated and not able to do the job efficiently.
To prevent burn out a chart must be displayed with other
members in the house assisting with daily chores and share
small responsibilities around the homes to make everything
work smoothly.

6
Disputes due to different parenting styles
 In an extended family disputes due to different parenting
styles would be common, due to the different parents’ ideals
on how to raise their offspring. These disputes may worsen
over time to family members to criticize each other. Parent
may have their own ideology on how to parent and
grandparents may also have their own ideology on how to
parent and these parenting styles may be different and may
hinder developmental stage of the child being catered to.
Possible solution, disputes between different
parenting styles.
Solutions to different parenting styles would be for
parents to come to an understanding where they parent their
child in their own specific way. Times are changing children
today are so different from how they were raised years ago
due to the environment.
However, parents must not let the wise words of
grandparents fall on deaf ears because they have experience.
It must be remembered at all times that it takes a village to
raise a child and we all need each other. Another idea would
be parents accepting each other parenting styles and try to
learn from each other.

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Family financial conflict
 Family financial conflict is on the top of the list when it
comes to why families fight. If members of a family feel they
have been treated unfairly or not given their fair share they
can harbor resentment for years maybe even for a lifetime
that’s because money is often associated with meanings and
emotions that runs deeply for an individual.
They may feel they were cheated, disrespected or that their
entire lifestyle was significantly impacting due to these
financial conflicts.
Possible solutions family financial conflict
The solution to financial conflict is to often reduce
expenses increase income or do some combination of both
this may not be what family members want to hear but in
order to find a solution we have to first create a budget to
spend money in a way that helps solve the problem.
Secondly, we must find a way in which we track our
expenses to create a budget that works for the entire family
without anyone being marginalized. If each person is catered
for in the budget there will be harmony in the family. I
suggest that a family that saves together grows together.

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Bibliography
 NorthShore.org (2019) Family Lifecycle.
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