The Here and Now

This weeks discussion I thought was really interesting as we talked about different family dynamics and the roles that are played by each of the different family members and how those roles can change as circumstances change. I think that it is interesting how when a circumstance changes whether it be a death in the family, divorce, loss of job(s), etc. People in the family have to change and step up at times. Often times, for example, if a husband or wife loses their jobs, one or the other either has to start working if they hadn't before or take on more work if both were already working.
Today in particular we were talking about illegal immigration and how often times, only one member of the family (father) will come before the rest of the family and work, planning on sending money to the rest of the family back home, and more often than not, that still is not enough. So, to compensate for their losses, the mother and the older children back home will go to work, which in turn, causes younger children to grow up sooner than they normally would. They start to take on roles of providers and caretakers to help earn and save money to meet up with their family that has gone ahead. Relationships change as head of household roles change, while the father is away working and earning money, mother is home acting out both parental roles while working and earning money for her family. There are so many factors that play into running a family and playing roles and staying close as a family through hardships and trials. I think that it is so interesting how trial and hardships can either pull families together or apart from each other making each person much more dependent on themselves and not relying on anyone else.