Family Members and Their Roles
Felipe Reyes and Emily Reyes are a married couple with two children, Sam and Cass. Sam is the eldest at 15 years, and Cass is 12 years old. Emily is a divorcee and had Sam and Cass with her first husband, Ken Wolter. Felipe and Emily had a brief courtship before a hasty marriage, but they still love each other deeply. Their family lives in Des Moines, Emily’s home, because her parents live in the same neighborhood. Emily’s parents are regular visitors and love their grandchildren a lot. However, the frequent visits unnerve Felipe because they come unannounced most of the time. Felipe also feels that the grandparents spoil the children too much, which adds to Sam’s disobedience and misbehavior towards him.
Felipe’s family stays in Puerto Rico and does not conform to his staying in another place when married. He seems to have a bad relationship with his family because they only attended his wedding briefly and did not associate with other family members, such as Emily’s parents. Felipe and Emily are Christians, but Felipe has stronger religious beliefs than Emily. Emily does not attend church, while Felipe occasionally goes with the children. Unlike her brother, Cass likes going to church and participating in church activities, but Sam attends services only on parents’ orders. Sam is a rebellious teenager and does not acknowledge Felipe’s presence and efforts as a father. The rebellion may be due to witnessing parents’ separation or the challenges of adolescences. Either way, he is disrespectful and wishes to stay alone or with friends most of the time. Sam’s disobedience causes Emily to feel guilty because she feels the divorce is a significant contributor to her son’s arrogance.
Unlike Sam, Cass respects Felipe’s position and tries to lighten the family’s mood during conflicts. Cass does not like Sam’s attitude towards Felipe, neither does she like Felipe’s outrage towards Sam. She is more understanding and hopes the family eventually gets to terms with each other. Emily’s ex-husband also remarried Tatiana, and they have their three-year-old child called William. Sam and Cass spend occasional holidays with their biological father, whom they find more accommodating than Felipe. The teenagers get along better with their father and stepmother, while Emily and Felipe also enjoy peace when the children are away.
Similarities and Differences in Cultural Values and Perspectives
Emily’s cultural perspective on raising children contradicts Felipe’s ideas. While Felipe advocates for corporal punishment towards disobedience and other delinquent acts among children. Emily wishes to raise the children in a more liberal manner which involves realizing mistakes with time and doing the right thing without force. According to Emily, children can learn better when given the freedom to explore rather than corporal punishment. She feels that Felipe could involve Sam in constructive activities that can mend their relationship than shouting at him for his arrogance. However, Felipe insists on the traditional belief that his father made him a man through punishments and practicing good family values like respect.
Emily does not uphold family values such as respect and obedience to elders and family members, which Felipe values. According to Emily, the children have difficulty accepting the separation from their biological father and need more time to adjust. Thus, punishing them for disobedience will only add to their frustrations. Emily also feels solely responsible for her children’s well-being despite having a marital union with Felipe. Since Felipe is not their biological dad, Emily considers him part of her life, which does not involve her children. However, Felipe believes in the Mexican traditional family structure and culture where the husband is the center of the family (Renzaho et al., 2017). He wants to be the man and husband to Emily and her children even if he does not relate to them biologically. Felipe insists on having the upper hand in the discipline and raising of the two teenagers regardless of the relationship, which does not sit well with Sam.
Sam does not share the same cultural perspectives with his foster father. According to Sam, his biological father is the only authority he recognizes, and Felipe cannot fill Ken’s position in his life. Although Felipe accepts Sam as his son, Sam does not share the same sentiments and regards him as an outsider. He is disrespectful and disobedient to his foster father, going against family values in society. Emily’s parents are fond of visiting their daughter in her marital home without notice, showing a lack of respect and consideration in today’s society. Nowadays, couples are busy and find inadequate time to spend time together and with the family that needs fewer interruptions (Zabriskie et al., 2018). Visiting regularly without prior notice may be an intrusion into the couple’s private life, which can have significant social and emotional impacts on the family.
While Felipe and Cass uphold religious values, Emily and Sam do not have a significant regard for religion. Emily is a catholic but rarely goes to church, and Sam only goes upon parents’ insistence. Despite the generation gap, Felipe and Cass share a standard view on Christianity, making them more religious than her mother and brother. Generally, the Reyes family does not have a common culture and family values because each member lives according to their beliefs and attitudes towards one another. The clash in cultural views and family values affects the Reyes family’s gender equality and gender roles, affecting their communication and family ties.
The impact of Generational and Cultural Differences on Family Dynamics
Generational differences significantly impact how people interact and communicate in various settings. Effective communication is key to healthy relationships and creating strong bonds in the family. However, most families today are experiencing challenges in communication due to huge gaps among family members. Methods of communication have changed over time, but the older generation still finds it hard to cope with how millennials wish to be addressed. According to (Renzaho et al., 2017), traditional parents prefer talking while the young listen without interruption regardless of whether they are right or wrong. However, times have changed where children and adolescents have a voice and cannot allow a rebuke without talking back. The difference in a generation has changed communication in families where children view the parent as their equals when discussing critical matters (Vera-Toscano & Meroni, 2021). In some instances, the older generation requires total concentration when addressing an issue, while teenagers and children focus on multiple activities such as using the phone while listening. The inattentiveness of the new generation makes communication challenging in a family.
Consequently, millennials prefer communicating through technological gadgets such as mail and chats, while older people still acknowledge face-to-face communication as the best (Renzaho et al., 2017. For instance, the Reyes family has challenges communicating between Sam and Felipe, where Sam prefers silence and electronic gadgets while Felipe insists on talks. Cultural differences also affect communication in a family where members may fail to express their views or ideas effectively in family discussions. Different cultures communicate in various ways such as sign language, physical movement, or silence which others may not be able to tell. The variations may cause a lack of communication among family members leading to conflicts or ignoring each other.
Additionally, cultural differences affect communication where a family member from a particular culture believes their way of life is the best. The family member will try to force the culture on the others regardless of being right or wrong. Expecting all family members to follow one’s culture is individualistic and can lead to communication challenges and conflicts (Zabriskie et al., 2018). For example, Felipe’s belief in corporal punishment is a conflicting issue that affects his relationship with Emily and the children.
Generation differences affect the way family members deal with stress and solve conflicts. Some adolescents prefer managing stress through silence, chatting with friends, or playing games on gadgets. The adolescents feel pressured when parents or older people ask them to share feelings and conflicting emotions leading to more silence. Alternatively, teenagers think that parents and elders cannot understand their problems due to generation differences preferring to consult their peers or find solutions alone Vera-Toscano & Meroni, 2021. Similarly, cultural differences influence stress management in a family because of different cultural values. This challenge affects how family members handle stressful situations because each member feels the other cannot see their point of view and give helpful advice. In the Reyes family, Sam Felipe has challenges solving conflicts in his family due to different cultural opinions and values with Emily. He believes in punishments, while Emily stands for giving children the liberty to think and act in the right way over time.
The Reyes Family Genogram
References
Renzaho, A. M. N., Dhingra, N., & Georgeou, N. (2017). Youth as contested sites of culture: The intergenerational acculturation gap amongst new migrant communities—Parental and young adult perspectives. PLoS One, 12(2). Web.
Vera-Toscano, E., & Meroni, E. C. (2021). An age–period–cohort approach to disentangling generational differences in family values and religious beliefs: Understanding the modern australian family today. Demographic Research, 45, 653-691,653A-653B. Web.
Zabriskie, R. B., Aslan, N., & Williamson, M. (2018). Turkish family life: A study of family leisure, family functioning, and family satisfaction. Journal of Leisure Research, 49(1), 8-27. Web.