For my class we were asked to create a metaphor for our family and wite a paper explaining it. This is what I came up with:


Family Systems Theory Project :The Strawberry Plant

The Plant
I have decided to use the metaphor of a strawberry plant to describe my family. I feel that it is a very good way to describe the way that my family interacts. One of the biggest similarities that I found while I was thinking about my family is that I feel like my family is simple and small (despite the fact that there are six children). I don’t know if I can accurately describe it, but the way that the strawberry plant is close, small, and simple, reminds we of the way my family is. We are close to each other and our interactions have always been very straightforward and to the point. My family isn’t full of drama or fakeness. Sometimes we have our issues just like any other family but the family as a whole is just like a strawberry plant, simple.
The parts of the plant that represent my parents are the stems and the roots. The children are represented by the berries.
Stems
My mother is the stem of the plant. She is the one that holds the structure. All of the berries are connected to her and she holds them onto the plant. Similarly, my mother holds us to the family. She is the one that we have direct contact with and the one that keeps things going the way that they are supposed to be. She is the structure. She is also the parent that we have the most direct contact with, she connects all the rest of the plant together. Almost everything goes through her.
Roots In contrast my father is the root system of the plant. We have less direct contact with him but he is essential to the health and well-being of the family. He has more direct contact with mom and then mom with us, so he is more of a indirect influence on the family. He is the underground strength to the family and is just as important and just as necessary.
Team work
Mom and Dad do different things for the family in different ways. They don’t have the same level of influence but they are both essential to the growth of the berries and the continuity of the plant. Neither one could do the job of the other and together they are more effective than they would be by themselves or separately. They need to work together to accomplish their goals and without both of them working together, the family pant wouldn’t grow.
The Berries
The children are the berries in many ways. I see the similarities between us and strawberries because I think that my brothers and sisters and I are very similar. Just like the berries on a strawberry plant all look very much alike, we are very similar in the way that we think and act. The berries and not identical, and we aren’t either, we just have more similarities than we have differences.
The berries also are very close to each other. They are clustered together under the protection of the plant and are always near to each other. I think this is really what my brothers and sisters are like, we are very close and get a long very well. We always like spending time together and have really good relationships. In addition, although we are close, we are very distinct and separate form one another just like the strawberries are separate. We love spending time together but we have very different lives and things that we are doing, and sometimes find it hard to find time to be together. Without the help of Mom as the stems that join us we would find it a little harder to stay connected.
Also, we are equally close to each berry. There aren’t really any cliques that have formed among the siblings, we are all close to each other but no one is very much closer to one person than to any other. The only exception to this would be our little double-berry twins. They have a special bond with each other because they were born together but they are all still equally close to everyone.
I think that one of the most important things about my model is the offshoot plants. A strawberry has the ability to shoot off and create new and individual plants from the original. I have used this to represent my own family of creation. I have been able to separate from the main plant and create my own new little family. Although I am now my own family unit, I still stay connected to the main plant and stay close to my family.

The Leaves
Although He is not a physical part of our family, I think that God is the leaves of the strawberry plant. He protects us from the dangers of the world and shelters the berries and helps the plant grow. I think that God is a part of my family, without which we would not be able to grow.
There are some weaknesses to the metaphor that I have created about my family. One would be that the transition form being a berry to being the head of a new plant isn’t as easy as it would have to be in my model. I’m not sure how the process of off-shooting really works in a strawberry plant or if a berry is responsible for the new growth so I don‘ think that it fits into my model perfectly. I am sure that there are many more weaknesses but I can’t think of them.
The effects of these patterns that I have described are every important to our family. One of the things that I have already mentioned a little throughout the paper is that being really close to each other helps us keep a strong family. The kids all having really good relationships helps us be able to keep the family together, with the assistance of Mom and Dad. Another really good thing that I have already mentioned is that when the children go off on heir own, like I already have, they are still connected to the family and have a tie back to the original plant.
One of the more negative things about the way my family interacts is that we don’t have as much interaction with Dad as we probably should. Because my father has become more of a indirect influence in my life, especially as I have grown older, I have not been able to create the type of strong relationship that I would have wanted to. In addition, the fact that each of us children have very different and distinct lives creates difficulty in getting us to spend time together, or even interact, outside of structured family events.

Conclusion
I think that I have learned a lot form really thinking about my family system. There were things that I thought about my family that I have never considered before and as I progressed through my project I saw connections that I had not previously seen. It was a wonderful experience to really look at how my family interacts within itself, especially among us kids, and see, or at least articulate, some of the patterns that I had found or already knew. I know that being able to understand my family of origin will help me to create my new family with purpose. I think that some of the things that I will want to encourage in my own family is connectivity between family members, unity, and safety. I really like the way that my family is close and with the help of parent, connected and strong. I really enjoy being close to my family and I want my children to feel that same way. I also really love how I feel like my family is a safe refuge from the world. Tucked between the strong roots and stems and sheltered underneath the protective leaves, the strawberries can grow strong and full. I want to provide that kind of environment for my children and also make sure that they understand the part that the Lord has in their lives.