FAMILY

STRUCTURES
AND LEGACIES
WHAT ARE FAMILY STRUCTURE?

• The traditional family structure is considered a family support

system which involves two married individuals providing care and
stability for their biological offspring.
• The family is created at birth and establishes ties across generations.
Those generations, the extended family of aunts, uncles,
grandparents, and cousins, can all hold significant emotional and
economic roles for the nuclear family.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF FAMILY
STRUCTURES
• Nuclear Family
– A family unit consisting of at most a father, mother, and
dependent children. It is considered the “traditional” family.
• Extended Family
– A family consisting of parents and children, along with
either grandparents, children, aunts or uncles, cousins, etc. in
some circumstances, the extended family comes to live
either with or in place of a member of the nuclear family.
• Step Family or Blended Family
– Two families brought together due to divorce, separation,
and remarriage.
• Single Parent Family
– This can be either a father or a mother who is singly
responsible for the raising of a child. The child can be by
birth or adoption. They may be a single parent by choice or
by life circumstances. The other parent may have been part
of the family at one time or not at all.
• Adoptive Family
– A family where one or more of the children has been
adopted. Any structure of family may also be an adoptive
family.
• Bi-Racial or Multi-Racial Family
– A family where the parents are members of different racial
identity groups.
• Trans-Racial Adoptive Family
– A family where the adopted child is of a different racial
identity group than the parents.
• Conditionally Separated Families
– A family member is separated from the rest of the family.
This may be due to employment far away; military service;
incarceration; hospitalization. They remain significant
members of the family.
• Foster Family
– A family where one or more of the children is legally a
temporary member of the household. This “temporary”
period may be as short as a few days or as long as the child’s
entire childhood.
• Gay or Lesbian Family
– A family where one or both of the parents’ sexual orientation
is gay or lesbian. This may be a two-parent family, an
adoptive family, a single parent family or an extended
family.
• Immigrant Family
– A family where the parents have immigrated to another
country as adults. Their children may or may not be
immigrants. Some family members may continue to live in
the country of origin, but still be significant figures in the
life of the child.
• Migrant Family
– A family that moves regularly to places where they have
employment. Children may have a relatively stable
community of people who move at the same time – or the
family may know no one in each new setting.
FAMILY LEGACIES

• No matter who we are, where we live, or what our goals

may be, we all have one thing in common, a heritage. That
is, a social, emotional, and spiritual legacy passed on from
parent to child.
• Emotional Legacy
– In order to prosper, our children need an enduring sense of
security and stability nurtured in an environment of safety
and love.
– It will require time and consistency to develop a sense of
emotional wholeness, but the rewards are great.
BUILDING BLOCK OF EMOTIONAL LEGACY

1. Provides a safe environment in which deep emotional roots can grow.

2. Fosters confidence through stability.
3. Convey a tone of trusting support.
4. Nurture a strong sense of positive identity.
5. Creates a “resting place” for the soul.
6. Demonstrate unconditional love.
• Social Legacy
– To really succeed in life, our children need to learn more than
management techniques, accounting, reading, writing and geometry.
They need to learn the fine art of relating to people. If they learn how
to relate well to others, they’ll have an edge in the game of life.
– In order to prosper, our children need to gain the insights and social
skills necessary to cultivate healthy, stable relationships.
• Nowhere can appropriate social interaction and
relationships be demonstrated more effectively than in the
home. At home you learned – and your children will learn
– lessons about respect, courtesy, love and involvement.
Our modeling as parents plays a key role in passing on a
strong social legacy.
BUILDING BLOCK OF SOCIAL LEGACY

• 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.
• Setting of social boundaries concerning how to relate to God, authority, peers, the
environment and siblings.
• Rules that are given within a loving relationship.
SPIRITUAL LEGACY

• The Spiritual Legacy is overlooked by many, but that’s a

mistake.
• As spiritual beings, we adopt attitudes and beliefs about
spiritual matters from one source or another.
• As parents, we need to take the initiative and present our
faith to our children.
LEGACIES

• We all have good and bad parts to the legacy we have

inherited, the key is to move forward from here.
• Some take a closer look at the legacy they’ve been given
helps them assess the legacy they want to pass on.
PARENTAL AUTHORITY

• Parenting and learning are closely related:

1. Parents provide us with rewards and punishments that
shape our behavior.
2. Parents are role models for observational learning.
PARENTING STYLE

• A parenting style is a set of strategies that parents use to

raise their children. Psychologists have identified 4 main
parenting styles.
• The parenting style employed has a significant impact on
the behavior the child learns (& the child’s personality).
AUTHORITARIAN STYLE
Parents…
• Establish strict rules.
• Expect children to always follow
the rules.
• Use punishment more than
reinforcement.
• Do not discuss rules with their
children, and may not explain why
rules exist. Might tell children to
do something “because I told you
so.”
Children…
• Are not allowed to question the
rules.
• Are not encouraged to make
mistakes and solve problems on
their own.
• May become hostile or aggressive
towards their parents because they
resent constant punishment.
• May struggle socially.
AUTHORITATIVE STYLE
Parents…
• Establish strict rules, but allow
situational exceptions to the rules.
• Consider children’s feelings when
creating and enforcing rules.
• Discuss rules with children so they
understand.
• Use a combination of punishment
and reinforcement.
Children…
• Are expected to follow the rules,
but can question the rules &
discuss them with parents.
• Are encouraged to problem-solve
and make mistakes in order to
learn.
• Tend to become responsible
decisionmakers.
PERMISSIVE STYLE
Parents…
• Have lenient / no rules and not
very much discipline.
• May only punish children if the
problem is very serious.
• Have a “kids will be kids” attitude,
and may treat their kids like
friends.
• Do not discourage their children
from doing bad things.
Children…
• Are allowed to do what they want.
• Grow up with no respect for
authority.
• Often struggle academically.
• Tend to make poor life choices
because they have been raised with
no guidance.
UNINVOLVED STYLE
Parents… Children…
• Are neglectful. May be • Grow up with many
overwhelmed by other life responsibilities.
problems, and ignore their • Lack discipline and tend to make
children. poor life choices.
• Often do not know what their • Often struggle academically.
children are doing. • Grow up not trusting others.
• Do not have many rules or • Grow up with low self-esteem.
expectations because they expect
children to raise themselves.
OVERPARENTING

• Parents are strict (like authoritative) but also involve

themselves in every aspect of their children’s lives. They
try to solve their children’s problems for them and clear
obstacles from their children’s paths. (“Tiger Mom”)
Parenting Style Parent Behavior Resulting Child Behavior
Authoritarian Rigid, strict standards (example: Unsociable, unfriendly, withdrawn
“if you don’t clean you’re room, I
will take away your cell phone for
good!”)

Authoritative Firm, sets limits and goals, Good social skills, self-reliant,
encourages independence independent
(example: “you can go to your
friend’s house after you clean your
room”).

Permissive Lax, inconsistent, undemanding Immature, moody, dependent, low

(example: “it might be good to self-control
clean your room”).

Uninvolved Detached emotionally, sees role Indifferent, undisciplined,

only as providing food, clothing, rejecting behavior
& shelter (example: “I don’t care
if your room is messy.”)
GENOGRAM

• A genogram is a graphical map of a family’s history that traces and

illustrates patterns in its structure and characteristics using special
symbols to describe relationships, major events, diseases, traditions,
social and personal beliefs and rituals, cultural heritage religious
beliefs, values systems, philosophies about life, and the dynamics of
a family over several generations.