Family Theories

This weeks topics were a little bit harder for me to understand until I went to class.  Yay! for my professor, Bro. Williams!  He is an amazing teacher who can get a class of  35+ to participate in daily discussions and hold your attention.  At 8:00 in the morning, that can sometimes be difficult! I really love going to class because I know I will get something out of it when I have put in my time before attending class.
That being said, this week we talked about theories.  As we talked about Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interaction Theory, Exchange Theory and Family System Theory, my mind wandered to my relationships with my family that I grew up in.  What kind of family was mine for the most part?  I grew up the 5th child out of eight-five girls and three boys. My family was not perfect.  We had our fights, at times had the mentality of "you owe me one", and definitely some body language reactions as well as sarcastic remarks.  But, I feel very lucky to say that when I look back after all these years of being married and raising my own family, the positive outweighs the negative. My family worked hard together and played hard together.  We were analyzed as a whole, had boundaries-this would be a Family System Theory.  An example of this kind of theory suggests when one person is feeling stress, then the whole family also feels that weight and then each member is relying on each other to help pull them through. My mom died of cancer 15 years ago. She was only 54.  This was extremely hard on my dad and all of us kids.  Because of our tight bonds and love for each other, we were able to lean on each other for strength and support.  This tight circle would occasionally need extra support.  We added to our circle with spouses, grandkids, aunts, uncles, and friends. I feel very grateful for my circle of support!
I also feel very blessed to have the relationship I do with my parents, brothers and sisters!