The Family System

The Family System

The family is one of the greatest systems of life. The family goes all the way back to the first humans on earth, Adam and Eve. God ordained the family to be the basic unit of life. All beings function in a family in some fashion. 

An important role within the family is the parents. They are responsible for raising and caring for children. In The Book Of Mormon in Mosiah 4 we are taught our responsibilities as parents, 

"14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.

15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another."

These verses teach us to take care of our children and provide the necessities of life. It also includes how we should raise our children spiritually. The scripture yearns us to not allow any breaking of Gods' commandments. Breaking any of Gods' commandments would be following Satan and lead to falling away from righteousness.

Parents are the only aspect of family that needs to be talked about. A broad perspective that needs to be discussed more is family relationships. My Mom taught me at a young age to always maintain family relationships especially extended family. I grew up on the east coast in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida. Both sides of my extended family live on the opposite side of the country on the west coast in Oregon, California, Utah, and Arizona. From a young age I noticed my Mom always exchanged Christmas cards and frequently called all the members of our extended family. This always confused me, partially because I didn't know who most the people she was talking to, but also because we only saw them a couple of times my whole childhood. As a kid I wondered why she would put so much effort into these relationships since we basically never saw them and really didn't have a presence in their life nor did they have one in ours.

As explained in Family System Theory, "the family is much more than its formal or legal definition; instead, it is a living, growing superpersonality that has as its essence the interactions of its members". We our a part of our family and we share a personality with them because of how we are raised and what values we share as a whole.

The relationships in my immediate family is very different from other families. I have two sisters that are five and seven years older than me. Both are married and one has a baby girl and the other has three little boys. My sisters didn't get along super well since they chose different lifestyles. The oldest was a very bright student and choose to go to a school my parents approved of while the younger sister struggled more in school because she chose to rebel against my parents teachings. The oldest sister was married to a nice man and started a wonderful family. My other sister chose to live a different lifestyle and had a child outside of marriage. They have continued to grow apart from one another and from me as well. Even though my mother always stressed the importance of maintaining family relationships my sisters chose to seclude themselves from the rest of the family. I am different from them but no better, I chose to keep my relationship with my parents and I try to have a relationship with my extended family even though it is difficult.

Family relationships are complicated and can be a very touchy situations depending on each family and time. The relationship we have with our family is very important and impacts the "superpersonality" that our family has.

Smith. Family System Theory.

Changing Trends in Family Life

Small Families Are Affecting Population Growth

The growth of the population has been a big concern for many scientists, economists, and politicians. Although people believe there is a growing population and many people are worried about it, the average fertility rate is too low to sustain the population in the United States. As Deseret News reported on January 2019 "The replacement rate — the number of births needed to maintain the population at its existing level — is 2,100 births per 1,000 women, or an average rate of 2.1 births per woman". The rate of 2.1 births per woman is not being met in any state with the exception of 2 states. Utah and South Dakota are the only states that are having just enough children to maintain the population. "Overall, the U.S. total fertility rate is 1,765.5 births per 1,000 women, compared to 2,227.5 in South Dakota and 2,120.5 in Utah" (Collins). These numbers vary across the country with the lowest rate being in the District of Columbia as stated by Deseret News "The District of Columbia had the lowest total fertility at 1,421.0, well below replacement rate, the report says. DC was also lowest in the total fertility rate for white women, at 1,012 per 1,000." DC is a very expensive location to live and may have an effect on the fertility rates of couples in the area. This study was made in 2017 and it is very possible that right now in 2020 those fertility rates have dropped below the sustainability rate.

These declining numbers may be due to couples delaying having children or deciding to not have children entirely. There is however a good side to these decreasing rates because that includes teen pregnancies. The United States has taken a strong stance on teens getting pregnant. There have been many movements and many opportunities for teens to learn about the importance of safety and protecting themselves. The Deseret News shared this statement regarding teen pregnancies "On one hand, birth rates have been declining in most populations, but especially among teens." Population is shown to be increasing because of the amount of people immigrating into the United States.

So how do these rates have any significance to you? Well, with the declining birth rate it is as big a concern as the rising population only with different consequences. With less children that would mean the elderly would begin to outnumber the working class. The elderly are supported by the worker class because of social security. With the working class shrinking the social security the elderly rely on will also shrink.

Another effect that the shrinking of the working class will create is the lack of employees at various businesses. Any business struggling to find employees runs the risks of going out of business or hiring under-qualified people. Ultimately this will affect the economy which has already been predicted.

In my family I have two older sisters. On my Fathers side of the family we are the only grandchildren. My uncle also never had children. From my grandparents they had two then only my Dad had kids and he had three. 

 

In my generation many people view kids differently than in the past. Children can disrupt careers, create financial burdens, and even create chaos in the home. Many young adults are focused on careers and marriage, they may not want kids right now or they cant afford it. Raising children takes a lot of money and time which some people aren't comfortable with. 

Although children can cause issues and take a lot to raise they can be a huge blessing. Having children could also help stop this issue of declining fertility rates. Without children we have no future.

Collins, Lois M. “Only Two States Had Fertility Levels above Replacement Levels in 2017. Utah Was One of Them.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 10 Jan. 2019, www.deseret.com/2019/1/10/20662955/only-two-states-had-fertility-levels-above-replacement-levels-in-2017-utah-was-one-of-them.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog, Scott's Thoughts!

In this blog I will be writing about things I have learned and wish to share in regarding family relations.

This is my Mom and we are very close with one another. We have had many good and bad times together. In the last 4 years we have gone through many hardships such as moving, divorce, sibling issues and more. I intend to use these examples to share what is important with family relationships. I am excited to share my thoughts with you!