Building Strong Families

What is a FAMILY?

A groupof 2 or more people who live

together and/or are related by blood,
marriage or adoption
Function of a family
Emotional support
Financial support
A place for love and belonging
Socialization
Learning
Qualities that Build Strong Families:
Communication and listening
Supporting each other in their activities
Teaching support for others
Develop a sense of trust
Has a sense of play and humor
Exhibits a sense of right and wrong
Qualities that Build Strong Families:
Has a strong sense of family in which
rituals and traditions abound
Respect each others privacy
Values service to others
Fosters table time and conversation
Shares leisure time with each other
Admits too and seeks help with problems
What breaks apart
families?
Qualities That Break Apart Families:
Drugs and alcohol use
Abuse (verbal, physical, emotional, and
sexual)
Divorce (money, affairs, dishonesty,
separation, abuse)
Not spending time together
No communication
Different religious beliefs
Types of Families
Nuclear Family
A family group that consists ONLY of
parents and children.
The couple may have children of their own, adopt
children, or remain childless and still have a
nuclear family.
Single Parent Families:
A family in which a
parent brings up a
child or children alone,
without a partner.
They can have one or
multiple children.
He or she can be
widowed, divorced,
separated, or never
married.
Single Parent Families:
of all children have
NOT seen father in the
last year
1 in 6 see their father
once a week
Most do NOT receive
child support
Work, childcare,
money, and time are a
challenge
Blended Families:
A family consisting of a
couple and their children
from this and all previous
relationships.
Happens when a single
parent marries.
In a blended family one of
the parents is a step parent
to the children, he or she is
not of blood relation.
Blended Families:
Fathers are likely to remarry
13% of todays children are step children
ADVANTAGES: New couple has more time
alone, Relationships are precious,
negotiation and compromise, learn to let
go, more role models, earning potential is
doubled
Blended Families:
CHALLENGES:
Emotional difficulties
2 years for couple to
adjust, 4-5 years for family
oneness, more difficult
with older children, identity
change, social isolation,
difficulty letting child and
new step parent develop a
relationship
Blended Families:
MUST deal with emotional pain and scars
of 1st marriage before entering into another
relationship
New traditions, rules, & extended
relationships
PATIENCE is critical to the success of any
remarriage
 Extended Families:
A family that extends
beyond the nuclear family,
including grandparents,
aunts, uncles, and other
relatives who all live in
one household.
Grandparents, aunts,
uncles, nieces, nephews,
cousins, or grandchildren.
Foster Families:
A family who acts as parents, guardians, or
family for a child in place of the childs
natural parents but without legally adopting
the child.
Adoptive Families:
A family that adopts a child of other parents
as his or her own child.