Family Interview Essays

Family Interview Essays Family Interview Essay Family Interview Essay It is my pleasure to introduce you to the Dixon and Campbell families. Within this extended, two earner household, there are two pairs of married couples and two adolescents. James and Charlene are the owners of the home and are also the parents of Christine. Christine and Jim live In the house with their two children. Each of the four adults work outside of the home and the girls attend school. I have had the opportunity to become parallelized with this family by working with Christine in the past. I chose them because they were gracious enough to allow me to interview them and use what we discussed to write my family essay. This middle lass Christian family is made up of Caucasians. James and Charlene have been married for thirty-nine years and have two daughters, one of which is Christine. Jim and Christine have been married for thirteen years and have two daughters, Alias; twelve and Emmanuel; nine. Each of the adults has full time occupations and the girls are full time students, as well as, their participation in sports and other extra- curricular activities. The family shows cohesion by attending church together on Sunday mornings and eating lunch together after church. This is one of the few days every week that the adults are able to be off of work at the same time. Throughout the rest of the week they all coordinate schedules so that Alias and Emmanuel has child care without having to have anyone from outside to tend to them. The girls have never had a babysitter separate of their immediate household. This may sound strange and to most people, it is, however Charlene had a good reason to ask her daughter and son-in-law to stay with her husband and her not long after Christine and Jim were married. : The younger couple lived in a mobile home as their first residence together and became pregnant Just a few months after they tied the knot. However, one morning, into Christinas first trimester, the trailer caught on fire and was badly damaged. Christine and the baby were able to get out safely, while Jim was at work. This is what prompted the newlyweds to move Into the parents home. They did not expect that they would be there more than a few months. Almost thirteen years later, everyone In this family seems very content with the current arrangements. Over time the family has had Its ups and downs. They each explained to me about a time when miscommunication or lack thereof caused issues to arise amongst them. This would be expected in a double couple household, not to mention being that they are parents and adult children under the same roof. Through trial and error, they all agreed that, they are able to work problems out by sitting down to discuss what the situation is and come to a fair and equitable compromise to fix it. When I asked the family about what specific struggles that they had faced, they all appeared to be perplexed. It took some time but Charlene finally came up with the struggle of how outsiders view her family. She explained that because the living arrangement that they live In Is not common, many people view It as strange and some view It as wrong. She and the other adults have had to defend their choices In how they all live together, at least one time, to someone outside of their household. Alias and Emmanuel also mentioned that they had been teased at school occasionally as well. The older of the two girls told me it was because the everyone pays their part of the living expenses and contributes to household supplies and groceries. Christine and Jim are primary financial providers of Alias and Emmanuel. Charlene and James treat the girls as normal grandparents would and buys them gifts and treats occasionally so as not to overdo it or spoil the encounters. There is an obvious concerted cultivation practiced in this family, as all of the adults encourage and praise the talents and abilities of the children. The parenting styles of each adult made the impression to me to be that mainly of the authoritative style. While listening to some of the stories talked about of Christinas upbringing, her father could have been labeled more authoritarian and her mother, more permissive while she was growing up. She told me that she thinks that over the years, her parents opposite styles meshed together quite nicely to create their more costive grand parenting style that they presently possess. Christine is thankful for her parents and the Alias and Emmanuel could not love their Grandma and Grandpa any more. Roles in this family are shared, Just like they share the care of the children. Christine and Charlene do most of the deep house cleaning; likewise James and Jim do the heavier yard work and handy man type chores around the house. However, all of them take part in cooking and preparing meals, doing laundry, and basic yard and house work. Alias and Emmanuel have daily chores; they are required to help with after meal clean up and taking care of their own rooms. The girls enjoy helping dad and grandpa with guy stuff and are encouraged to learn how to be as self-sufficient as possible. When writing this paper I am reminded of the television show Modern Family. For those who have not had the opportunity to be versed on how the stereo typical American family has evolved over the years, it is definitely no longer the Cleavers world out there! The Dixon and Campbell families would be a good addition to the television show, so that this type of extended family could be portrayed as normal amongst the other diverse families that are in existence nowadays.