The Family System

            What do you think of when you hear the word system? The first thing that comes to my mind is my Dad, telling me how to load a dishwasher. “There’s a system, he said as he looked down at my haphazardly attempt to place every dirty dish into our overstuffed, over worked dishwasher.  He removed the dishes, saying “If you place so many dishes in here, the soapy water won’t be able to do its job properly because the dishes are blocking the way. He reloaded the dishwasher, and told me that if he hadn’t of helped me, I would have had to clean the dishes all over again. Webster dictionary defines system as a “group of related parts that move or work together.” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/system). Just like our weary dishwasher, it had many parts that worked together to clean up our dirty dishes.

            A family system is made up of parts you have mother, father, son, and daughter. In such systems people learn the basic things of life. Just as the washer’s system was made to clean dishes, the family system was made to create people who are loving, hard-working individuals, who can help move the world forward. The mother and father are the leaders within the family, they teach their children how to make good decisions that will eventually allow the child to live by themselves and later create their own family systems. This is the golden standard, a mom and dad who love each other and do their best to work as a team. These golden standard parents love their children and they do all they can to help their children learn for themselves and how to be successful individuals.

             I know that not all systems are created equal. Divorce, abuse, death, and other things contribute to family systems. The family is made up of parts and each part affects each other. That is why the word “system” is used to describe the family. If the mom is not around you’ll usually see the dad or a child step up and take on responsibilities that would normally rest upon the shoulders of the mother. When systems are dysfunctional or parts are missing, it can still work but the end results may be different.

            We talked about this idea in class, we read papers and discussed possible outcomes for the different families. As I review this post, I realize that I haven’t touched on those things. I’ve had so many thoughts on what we’ve been studying that I wasn’t sure what to write. Mostly I felt the importance to share that families need to work together in order to be successful. I feel no matter your situation you an eventually create a family that learns and loves together.