Week 3 blog

     This week in class we talked a lot about culture in families, and if they all meet the same purposes with the same effectiveness. There were a couple situations we talked about to see how culture would play a role. One was what a younger child might do if something were to happen that would cause said child to have to step up and possibly take the role as a parent. The other was a story in the reading that talked about a family immigrating to america. 

    I would first like to explain my thoughts on the definition of culture. Google defines culture as: the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. Usually when we think of culture we think of a group of people in another country that have unique practices, but culture is everywhere. In our country, in others countries, in our friend groups, and in our families! I have an example of a custom in my family, and it might seem kind of silly but it was actually fairly talked about topic. In my family my parents had a very strong custom of keeping track of and limiting our screen time. Throughout my life I went through many different rules concerning the amount we could play per day and when we could play each day. Like I said it seems kind of silly but I think it shows how much culture we can find in our families if we really look for it. 

    We talked about in a family there may be times of urgency or necessity which may cause a child to fill the role of a parent. The culture of a family could really affect what the children would do in an urgent situation. The culture of a family should feel right and be comforting. If this is the case then I believe a child would be able to arise to the challenge of helping the family out as a parent would. On the other side of things, if the culture wasn't comfortable for the children then it would be less likely that they would be able to rise to the challenge. I personally know a few families that are in the situation where one of the children carries out most of the parenting, and there were even some students in our class that mentioned they were in the situation. I have high respect for those people, because parenting does not seem like a simple task, and I can't imagine doing it at a young age.

    In the preparation work for this week, we heard the story of a family that immigrated to the United States of America. The father left for America first and started working for a construction worker and he was working at a much lower position than he was in his home country. After working for a few years and working his way up on his job a bit, the rest of the family was able to join him. I think a family going through something like this would change the families culture immensely! First of all the countries culture would be different so that would already cause problems, and then the parents trying to set the families culture while the kids are learning different culture from being around friends at school, I think it would take a great deal for the family to get their culture back in order.

    I am super grateful for my family and for the culture my mom and dad have established in our home. I think sometimes children can be difficult but if the parents will put in the time and effort to create a strong and comforting culture within the family then the children will understand.