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.

We were talking about gender differences in lass for the past few days and I love what I have been learning. Believe it or not for the rest of the world be men and women are different. Wow, who knew? (I really knew). Anyways, so it turns out that no matter what the feminists say, men and women are just different in some things. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of being equal I just don’t approve of being identical, or wanting to be identical, because no matter how hard we try, men and women are different. Science has had a part in explaining this to people. Men and women have different brains that are better at doing different things for different reasons. Women have more white-matter in their brains which forms connections between the emotional and the vocal areas helping women be more able to express their feelings. Men have more grey matter. Men are more logical, task oriented, and aggressive in general. Women tend to be detail oriented, interpersonal, and have better eyesight. There are lots of individual differed of course, there could be a specific man that is more interpersonal; then a specific women but that does not mean that these typical characteristics do not stand. God has created men and women differently to be able to do different things as part of his great plan for us. We each have specific roles in the families that we create. Fathers are to provide the necessities of life, protect for danger and harm, and preside over the family in love and righteousness. Mothers are to nurture, love, and teach children. Men and women can share these roles with spouse, but it is always a mother’s role to nurture and a father’s role to provide if they can. I know that we have always been male and female even before we were born in this life and that they way that we are as males and females is because that is how God intended it to be. Our differences are special and we should cherish and respect them as we make our way through this life. We are being told on every side that men and women are the same except for a few body parts, I know that isn’t true. We have special jobs to do as men and women and if we use our differences together and work with one another we will get further and be happier than we otherwise could be.

Family Systems Theory!
wow. Who knew that families are so complex? This theory completely blew me away but made total sense all at the same time. I don't think that I can explain it all very accurately but I am going to try to touch on the important parts.
Basically, A family is a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts; the parts being called subsets. These subsets are made up of people in the family and one person can be a part of more than one subset. Mom and Dad can be a subset: The spousal subset. All the girls in a family (if there is some kind of special bond that connects then) can be a subset. There are a ton of possibilities. Basically we all have roles that we fulfill in the family and within our subsets, they can be different at times and can change. Someone can be a mother, a wife, a sister, and a daughter all in the same day depending on which subsets you interact in. In every family there is an individual family culture and very important unspoken rules that the family follows, whether they realize it or not. The key to understanding your family is to understand those rules, the roles we play in our families, the subsets we belong to, and the way that we interact with the people in our family.
Of course, this is just a theory and there are other theories that attempt to explain family interactions but I like this one the best. J
Understanding the family systems theory helps me understand my family, and the way that I fit into my family, better. This might be more trouble than it is worth though since I find that I now over analyze everything that goes on in my family. I think it is kind of fun but my husband might think that it not so enjoyable, I always like to play therapist on him. Understanding family systems theory has also helped me see my place in my new family. I was recently married and am finding it interesting to see a different family culture than I am used to. All of what I’ve learned helps me see it with more understanding than I would otherwise would have been able to. My education is paying off already.

The purpose of this blog is to share with the world everything that I have been learning about the family in my Family Relations class. Recently we've been going over the different things happening to the family.
Basically, here is what I have learned:

Family trends are looking bleak. I am fearful about the way the world is looking, I don't want to raise a child in a world that is digressing so rapidly. For the most part, the really good and extensive research that people come up with on how to create successful families corresponds quite nicely with the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints and the council of the living prophets and apostles. I think that we, as church members, are a little ahead of the game.  Although, my point is that we are not only extremely lucky to be able to know so much about raising effective and healthy families but we are also responsible for actually doing our best to follow the council we are given and to share it with others. Thus, I am sharing it.

Some of the family trends that we are seeing are an increase in cohabitation, an increase of people being motivated by self-interest, an increase of premarital sexual relations, an increase of mothers working outside the home, an increase of the age at which people decide to marry, and a decrease of the number of children being born.
There are a few European countries that don't even have a replacement birthrate. What happens when everyone dies? I'm not only saying that we should all have more babies, I am saying that we need to combat these family trends and start encouraging people to marry younger so they will be able to have children, decide not to live together or have sex before marriage so that their marriages will have a better chance of succeeding, raise children the way that God has intended, and care deeply about the family, not only yours but every family around you.

I am calling for a family revolution! I want to see the world change, although I have little hope that it will.

When we are more focused on the things that really matter to us in our lives, we will be able to deal with the rest. Never forget that the family is the essential unit in society. Everything starts with family and everything will end there. Our lives are our families, so live them well.

What is the most important thing in your life? What is the one thing that you just can't live without? What makes you the happiest you've ever been and can cause the most sorrow?

My Family.

To me my family is everything. I can't live without my husband's love. My brothers and sisters bring joy to my life and I would never be more sad than at the loss of a beloved family member.

We are all born into families. Some families are better than others, but that shouldn't stop us. The best part is that we can creat families and create a new family life for ourselves. We don't have to be stuck in a rut if the family life odds didn't fall in our favor.  There is a chance for everyone to have a meaningful family, whether it's by blood or adoption or friends that are dear to you. Whether it is in this life or the next, we can all have a family.

That is the goal of our existance. That is my goal.
My husband and I were married on April 16, 2011. Together we have started to build a family that is based on the things that we think are important. Love, respect, God, and many other things have an important place in our family plans. As we bring children into our famly we want to be able to teach them what is right, how important family is, and how important God is.

This semester I will be learning more about the family in a university course that I will be taking for my major. I hope to share my insights with you here and maybe help you learn as well. I hope that everyone who reads this bolg will learn something new or think of something in a new way that they have never thought of before. Whatever the outcome of reading this, I hope it's possitive and adds some light to your life.