How does your family affect you as a developing individual?

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you
call it, whoever you are, you need one."
Jane Howard, "Families"

FAMILY STRUCTURE
The traditional family structure is considered a family support system which
involves two married individuals providing care and stability for their
biological offspring. The family is created at birth and establishes ties
across generations.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF FAMILY STRUCTURES:

Nuclear family:

A family unit consisting of at most a father, mother and dependent children.

It is considered the "traditional" family.

An example of a nuclear family is a mom, dad and their kids.

Extended family:
A family consisting of parents and children, along with either grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or
uncles, cousins etc.
An example of extended family is grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Step families:

Two families brought together due to divorce, separation, and remarriage.

Examples of stepfamily forms are: a resident father and stepmother, a resident mother with
stepfather, there may be children of both partners from prior unions resulting in a family unit that
consists of a stepfather and stepmother with stepchildren..

Single parent family:

This can either be a father or a mother who is singly responsible for the raising of a child (either by choice
or by life circumstances). The child can be by birth/adoption.

A woman raises her children after her husband died.

Adoptive family:

A family wherein one or more of the children has been adopted.

Bi-racial or multi-racial family:

A family where where the parents are members of different racial identity groups.

A family with and American father and Filipino Mother

Trans-racial adoptive family

A family where the adopted child is of a different racial identity group than the parents.

American parents adopted an African child.

Blended family:

A family that consists of members from two(or more) previous families.

An example of a blended family is a woman with two children from a previous marriage who
marries a man with three children from a previous marriage.

Conditionally separated families:

A family member is separated from the rest of the family. This may be due to employment, military
service, hospitalization etc.

A father who left his family to work abroad as an OFW.

Foster family:

A family where one or more of the children is legally a temporary member of the household.

Foster parents are people who officially take a child into their family for a period of time,
without becoming the child's legal parents. The child is referred to as their foster child.
Gay or lesbian family:

A family where one or both of the parents' sexual orientation is gay or lesbian.

An adopted child with his two gay fathers.

Immigrant family:

A family where the parents have immigrated to another country as adults. Their children may or may not
be immigrants.

A Filipino family is an immigrants of America

Migrant family:

A family that moves regularly to place where they have employment.

No matter who we are, where we live, or what our goals may be, we all have
one thing in common: a heritage. That is, a social, emotional and spiritual
legacy passed on from parent to child.

Heredity: It Runs in the Family

Were you ever told when you were younger that you looked just like your mother or father? This is because we inherit
genes from our parents that determine what we look like. Just like diseases or health risks, physical traits like your
hairline and the shape of your nose can be determined by genes that have been passed on from generation to
generation in your family. The passing of traits through generations is called heredity.

Genes are passed from parents to children. Every person has two sets of chromosomes in their cells. When a man
and woman conceive a baby, one set of chromosomes from each parent combine to make up the DNA of their child.
Remember: everyone has two copies of every gene. Because we receive only half of our mother's genes (one copy
of each gene) and half of our father's genes, we are not identical to either of our parents.

With each pregnancy, the chromosomes from our mother and father combine in different ways. This is why we are
similar to, but not identical to our siblings; we receive a different combination of our parent's genes.

As you may have guessed, identical twins are the exception. Each twin gets the same set of genes from their mother
and father—making them physically and genetically identical.

Although an individual may look similar to a relative, it does not mean they will develop the same diseases and health
problems as that relative. Each gene is passed separately, so if you've always been told you look just like your
mother, that doesn't mean you will have all of the same health problems. For example, even the look, shape and
color of your eyes is controlled by different genes than those that affect how your eyes work, so having the same
shape and color eyes as a parent doesn't mean you will also inherit age-related macular degeneration from them.
In addition, genetic risk factors for diseases that affect only males or only females can be transmitted by both
genders. For example, a male can have and pass on to his children a genetic variant that increases the risk of
disease that only occurs in females, such as ovarian cancer.

If a man has an extensive family history of ovarian cancer, it is possible he inherited a genetic variant associated with
ovarian cancer. Even though he cannot develop ovarian cancer, he could still pass on this variant to his children. His
daughters may have an increased risk for developing ovarian cancer and his sons may in turn pass the variant on to
their daughters, increasing their risk for ovarian cancer.

Similarly, females can have and pass on to their children genetic variants that increase the risk of diseases that only
occur in males. For example, a woman can pass on a genetic variant associated with an increased risk of prostate
cancer to her sons, even though she cannot ever get prostate cancer herself.

Straight hair
5 out of 7 people in my
family cross their right thumb over their left thumb.

5/7 = 0.7 x 100 = 70% = 70=% of my family doesn't have freckles.

Cleft Chin

10%
5/7 = 0.7 x 100 = 70% = 70=% of my family doesn't have curly hair.
2/7 = 0.3 x 100 = 30% = 30% of my family
cross their left thumb over their right.
without freckles
40%

Cross right thumb over left

60%
5/7 = 0.7 x 100 = 70% = 70=% of my family cross their right thumb over their left.
4 out of 7 people in my family are right handed

Curly Hair
cleft

70%
Can not roll tongue
Left handed

Cleft chin, Math

30%
Left thumb

20%
3/7 = 0.4 x 100 = 40% = 40% of my family is left handed.

Left Handed
Right thumb

with freckles
no cleft
30%
Freckles

2/7= 0.3 x 100 = 30% = 30% of my family doesn't

have a cleft chin.
Straight Hair
No Freckles
70%

40%
No Cleft Chin
100%

Roll tongue
80%
Curly Hair

By: Devorah Katz

20%

50%
Right Handed
5 out of 7 people in my family have a cleft chin.

Right Handed

2/7 = 0.3 x 100 = 30% = 30% of my family

have freckles.
2 out of 7 people in my
family have curly hair.

My Family Heredity Prezi

4/7 = 0.6 x 100 = 60% = 60% of my family is right handed.

100%
90%
right handed

5/7 = 0.8 x 100 = 80% = 80=% of my family can roll their tongue.
2/7 = 0.3 x 100 = 30% = 30% of my family
can't roll their tongue.
Roll tongue
30%
80%

Right thumb over left

10%
50%
5/7= 0.7 x 100 = 70% = 70% of my family has
a cleft chin.

Freckles
2/7 = 0.3 x 100 = 30% = 30% of my family
has curly hair.
Left over right
5 out of 7 people in my family can roll their tongues
90%
2 out of 7 people in my
family have freckles.
60%

Curly hair

Genogram
1. Respect for elders. In the Philippines even older sisters and brothers, aunts, uncles,
etc. are respected and obeyed. Any person older than you is to be spoken to
respectfully. Shocking for Americans but I like it.
2. Extended family living together. In the Phil., families are not so independent like in
the U.S. They take care of one another and still feel “tied” to their adult family
members. Many Filipinos work abroad and send back money to support extended
family. Family ties are much closer in the Phil. This creates other big differences: In
the States almost everybody works, husband and wife and even teenagers. In the
Phil, there are many adults who do not work. There is seldom a house with no one
at home. And older people retire much earlier in the Philippines, and the next
generation takes care of them. Maybe that’s why they have many children- (also
because birth control is forbidden in this strong Catholic nation.)
3. Americans are very busy and have a fast paced agenda. Even children have a busy
schedule with sports and lessons of various kinds. The Philippines is a much slower
pace for many people. Even in the malls or any supermarket, the Filipinos walk so
slow. Everything seems to move slowly in the Philippines, including cashiers or any
business transaction. The business and government systems and processes are not
streamlined nor seem to be concerned with the time. Most paperwork is done by
hand. Filipinos are very good at waiting patiently, sometimes for hours.
4. Filipino culture is very sharing, especially more among the poorer people. I have
even seen someone take the shoes off a neighbor’s porch without asking, because
they needed to borrow them to go somewhere. If you walk by anyone, even
strangers, who are eating, they will usually invite you to eat with them. People are
not shy to borrow something, and people often feel obligated to share their
resources. It’s not that Americans are not sharing, but there is such a difference in
the culture. Americans are all so independent. Being independent and being
responsible for yourself is really stressed in America- it is in the culture. Americans
often believe in the ‘tough love principle’ which means not helping someone, even
a family member, so that they will learn to be responsible. Americans raise their
children from a young age to be responsible and independent. Not so in the
Philippines.
5. Rules are often not followed in the Phil. I believe this stems from corruption, which
permeates many city and Gov’t officials, even the police. Nothing is effective in
enforcing laws consistently, so many do not follow them anyway. And because
many do not follow, it is overwhelming to enforce. This is so prevalent - for
example if the police would pull someone over for some traffic infraction, there are
many others doing it at the same time - so they just got 1 or 2 out of thousands
doing it. There is a tolerance and often bending of the rules in all areas of life in
the Phil. While in America, the laws are strictly and consistently enforced so this
affects the culture in many other areas, in which people know and expect rules to
be followed. In America you would automatically know you are expected to get in
line and wait your turn and be fair. In the Philippines, it is common for people to
 not have a line or cut in the front of the line, and nothing is said by anyone. Even if
it bothers them, they are still very tolerant to let it go.
6. In the Philippines the culture is very subtle, gracious, polite, pleasant, and non-
confrontive. If anyone would speak a small hint of something negative about
someone or something…it would speak volumes and would be heard loudly.
Americans would generally miss the hint. In America people speak very directly
and confrontative (and complain a lot) , which is perceived by many Asian cultures
to often be rude. Also the culture in the Phil. is mostly very light-hearted and up-
beat. You will see people smiling everywhere and being very friendly. They may
have big problems or hardships, but they appear to be very happy. It’s part of the
culture.
7. Personal boundaries and privacy are very different. Filipino strangers will ask you
where you are going, where’s your husband, and the most popular question
always is how much did that cost? It’s usually only curiosity which Americans
would consider them just being ‘nosey’. But its normal conversation here. Just like
Americans talk about the weather which Filipinos don’t know what to say about
that because there’s nothing we can do about it anyway. Physical boundaries are
strong in America. People keep their distance and very seldom bump or brush
against someone- Americans are trained as a child to be considerate of others
about such things. Filipinos will do some funny things and not think anything
about it… like a group will get off an escalator and after one step. stand there
talking and they are blocking others behind them. Also in traffic, someone will
pass you and then stop right in front of you in the middle of the street (if there’s
no parking ) for some reason - like they are letting someone out of the car or they
are waiting for someone. The spatial boundaries are just different. Filipinos like to
be close together while Americans like to have space. When I first moved in a
different house, I had children looking in my living room windows watching me.
They wanted to look at the foreigner. It really bothered me. I had to tell them to
leave but they didn't. Also money and bodily functions are not polite to talk about
in America. But here it is normal conversation. Some even specifically mention
whether they need to pee or poop.
8. Filipinos are an emotional people and go more by their feelings than Americans. I
attribute this as probably stemming from the 400 years of Spanish rule, because
other Asian countries don’t have this ‘Latin temperament’. Sometimes they seem
childish with jealousy or having hurt feelings over a small thing or holding a
grudge. They seem extremely sensitive or into much drama. While Americans
normally make decisions solely by logic. Talking about logic reminds me of the
educational system… Asians are taught to study by memorization of facts. I have
seen this in other Asian countries too. They may not understand the topic but they
memorized it all word-for-word for the exam. I even heard a student tell a teacher
that she didn’t understand the material and the teacher replied “You don’t need to
understand it, just memorize it”. While Americans are always encouraged to think
 for themselves and to gain understanding. Also in job training, Filipinos are trained
to memorize what to say to the customer and to do step 1, then step 2, etc., but
they often are not helpful or logical if your question or situation doesn't fit into
what they memorized. They often don’t see the bigger overall picture of the
situation. For example I have repeatedly seen one worker, like on a construction
job, damage another’s previous work because he is just focused with doing ‘his’
job.
9. Filipinos are a festive people and love to celebrate anything, always with food and
sometimes outdoor videoke and sometimes fireworks. People love to sing and
dance, everything from cha-cha-cha to ballroom dance to hip-hop and many are
very good at it. So there are many celebrations and sometimes the neighborhood
is noisey, even through the night, which they have no sense of ‘boundaries’ about,
but nobody complains. Again, very tolerant. (Americans would call the police to
report “disturbing the peace”.) Filipinos are not shy to perform, in fact I think most
love it. Children are trained to perform in school from a young age, as there are
many programs with dancing and singing and also speech-giving training and
contests, starting in Kindergarten level. Americans are weak in this area and are
often shy to perform. Only an outgoing talented American would be comfortable
performing publicly.
10. Filipinos are often ordering the same t-shirt that the whole group will wear just for
a friend group outing for the day to a special place or for a dance performance at
an event or school or a team doing a medical mission, etc. They wear uniforms in
their place of employment, such as teachers, bank tellers, supermarket employees,
Government workers, etc. They like belonging to a group or being identified as a
group, while Americans prefer the independent look.
11. Of course all these things are not true for everyone or in every place. These are
just some general main cultural differences.