Family Dynamics

Family dynamics play a major role in how children develop. These influences include structure, expectations, parenting styles, and involvement. To understand more about how childhood experiences with your family have influenced current identification of self, take a few minutes and think back to those days.

• Analyze the role that family structure, expectations, parenting styles, and involvement of caregivers played in your development.
• Reflect on your experiences and share any that you are comfortable sharing. You can use questions such as the following to guide your reflection:

1. What was the best thing that your family said about you or did for you? Try to remember one exact day when that was said or done for you. Which person did this? Remember now what you felt then. When do you feel this way now?
2. Did you have a nickname? How did you feel about it?
3. Did family members tell you what you would end up being or doing? Was it what you wanted to be or do? How did you respond?
4. How do you think your family would have described you to a close friend of theirs? What were they most concerned about for you?

Would you do or react to things differently now than you did then? Why?