Family Systems Theory

I was really interested in our discussion in class today about Family Systems Theory. It states that in a family the whole is more important than the individuals. Missing or adding just one person changes the whole organization of the family. I really liked that idea. I thought about this theory in reference to my family and it helped me to realize the importance of each of my siblings and my parents. They each bring something unique that if removed would significantly change the structure of our family life.

Subsets, were also a new thing for me. There are hundreds of small groupings/relationships within the family. These are things like: marriage, parent, sibling, gender, interests, abilities, etc. My brothers are twins, so they have a subset of that. My sisters, and I all hate seafood. My siblings Andrew, Amy, Aaron, and my mom all have names that start with the letter "A". The five oldest siblings don't live at home. We used to call my four youngest brothers "the little boys"... It's all so interesting! I'm glad to have figured out that I have a special connection with each of family members. We all have our own subsets with eachother.

Extended Family Disappearing?

There was a section in the book on the relations of an extended family. It said that having relationships with your extended family isn’t common anymore. We’ve "lost" the extended family. I had a discussion with my roommate about it and have come to the conclusion that this may be true for the world but not for members of the church. Those without the gospel in their lives tend to break off relationships with their families due to conflict and then grudges. But to those in the church, family is everything. We do what it takes to stick together. We know about repentance and forgiveness. My family is important to me. I look forward to every get together and these turn out to be some of my favorite memories. I believe extended family is just as alive as ever before. At least for me it is.



This is a picture of my extended family on my mom's side at our annual camping trip.

Emotional Loneliness

Everyone is aware of social loneliness. We see lots of people who don’t have enough social interaction. So it was fascinating to learn that there is such a thing as emotional loneliness, which is even more wide spread. In fact, in the textbook it says the majority of people face this loneliness at some point in their life. Emotional loneliness is having fewer intimate relationships than you desire. I think I’ve struggled all my life especially in high school with this. I was always in a large group of friends at school. I knew lots of people and they knew me. But for some reason I wasn’t happy. I didn’t feel comfortable around any of them. I think that is why all I wanted to do during those years was to stay home with my family. I didn’t feel so alone in my family because that is where I had intimate relationships. It is nice to have pinpointed the reason for my unhappiness so I can know how to fix it. I know now that I need more intimate relationships in my life and I can try harder to form those.

Family Relations

I'm starting this blog for my Family Relations Class. Here is where I will write any insights, questions, or opinions on what we learn in class. I hope you will all enjoy!