Involvement With Nontraditional Parents And Families Of Children With Essay Example For Students

Involvement With Nontraditional Parents And Families Of Children With Essay ExceptionalitiesEvery family is governed by different rules, values, and norms designed to protect and continue the familyunit. Rules and norms come from family history, personalities, expectations, and values. Children enteringa family impact both the family and child. The child must determine how to fit into this environment andthe parents must make time, financial, and priority changes. The traditional family stages (marriage, birth of a first child, leaving home by the last child) are happeningless often. Families are in transition divorce, blended families, single parent, unmarried parents, fosterparent, grandparents, and same-gender parents now may be raising the child. Three types of involvement are looked at in this chapter: Separation and Divorce, Blended Families, andOther Nontraditional Families with their impact on the child and the parents. Separation and DivorceThe impact on children is often sadness, denial, and fear. The parental relationships have changed. Angermay show toward one or both parents. Male children are more apt to become aggressive, impulsive, andantisocial. The impact on parents stems from the fact that most mothers become the childs custodial parent. Financialproblems surface (mothers make half the income of fathers, many families exist below the poverty levelbecause marketable work skills are missing or outdated. Discipline problems routinely occur in singleparent families. Personal problems for single parents in the areas of employment discrimination, increasedresponsibilities, isolation, and loss of status are often reported. Blended FamiliesIssues for children are: loyalties to noncustodial parent and other relatives, authority structure, roledevelopment and enforcement. Entering parents may be perfect parents and have all the answers. They cannot understand why they donot receive instant love and admiration. Negative feelings really increase when both spouses been childrento the new marriage. The lines of authority must be resolved. Financial expectations and understandingsmust be accepted. Loyalty cannot be demanded by the new parent. The issue is to keep communicationslines open as order is established in the new family. Other Nontraditional FamiliesIdentification of the many possible other families is beyond the scope of the book. Guidelines foe dealingwith these families may not be available. The best advice is to recognize that each family is unique and toindividualize your method of addressing their issues and needs.