Describe how your culture defines family.
REQUIRED READING RESOURCES
· Sue, D. W., Rasheed, M. N., & Rasheed, J. M. (2016). Multicultural social work practice: A competency based approach to diversity and social justice (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
· Chapter 9,“Cultural Styles in Multicultural Intervention Strategies”
· Chapter 10,“Multicultural Family Social Work Interventions”
· Chapter 14,“Culturally Competent Social Work Practice with Biracial/Multiracial Persons” (pp. 449–460)
Post your response to the following:
· Describe how your culture defines family.
· Identify the values that underlie your family unit.
Respond to two colleagues:
· Compare similarities and differences between how you and your colleague defined family.
· Explain why it is important to understand different definitions of family when working with a multiracial family.
Describe how your culture defines family.
The German family structure is the definition of a nuclear family. In most homes, you will find a mother, father, and child. Most German households contain only one generation, and the number of families with more than one generation living together has been declining. If the house is multigenerational, it is typically two-generation. However, most grandparents and other extended family live in a separate house. These traditions are still carried here in the United States in some German homes. However, I did not follow tradition.
I am now divorced from the father of my children. However, I have and still teach my children about German culture. For example, St Nicholas Day is a favorite holiday. On the night of December 5, children clean and polish their boots and leave them outside the door before going to sleep. The next morning, they find their shoes filled with nuts, candy, and small gifts from St Nicholas. He also appears in malls like Santa. Another favorite, Christmas cheer, continues until January 6th, the day of a religious feast known as Epiphany or Das Dreikönigsfest (‘three kings festival’). Often, children dressed as the Magi go from house to house and sing songs (hence the term Sternsinger, or ‘star singer’) requesting donations towards various children’s causes.
Values
Germans place a high priority on structure, privacy, and punctuality. The German people embrace the values of thriftiness, hard work, and industriousness. Germans are stoic people who strive for perfectionism and precision in their lives. They do not admit faults, even jokingly, and rarely hand out compliments. At first, their attitude may seem unfriendly, but there is a keen sense of community, social conscience, and a desire to belong.
Reference
Sue, D. W., Rasheed, M. N., & Rasheed, J. M. (2016). Multicultural social work practice: A competency-based approach to diversity and social justice (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Describe how your culture defines family.
In my culture, the typical family is described as relatives living in your household and the extended family. This includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. The main family unit typically consists of a mom, dad, and children. However, with the high divorce rate and many factors that play a part in parents being unable to raise their children, families are now often single parents raising their children alone. This can also be grandparents who have taken their children and grandchildren into their home. It can be grandparents, aunts, and uncles raising the children the parents cannot raise. Family comes in many different shapes and sizes, each unique and special. Most families in my culture have their own homes. The children grow and leave their parent’s home, making a new home with their own spouses and children. Sometimes, but not often, children care for their aging parents, bringing them back into their homes as they cannot care for themselves. Where our society is now, compared to the 1950s, has changed drastically. “The traditionally defined nuclear family, consisting of heterosexual parents in a long-term marriage, raising their biological children, and with the father as sole wage earner, is a statistical minority. The prevalence of extended families, intermarriage, divorce, openly gay and lesbian relationships, single-parent families, and families with two parents working outside the home makes the conventionally defined “normal family” an anomaly” (Sue et al., 2015).
Identify the values that underlie your family unit.
My values for my family unit are love, trust, respect, integrity, responsibility for oneself, and doing for others as much as possible. This looks like my family helping out in our home, being responsible for the home and others. Caring for one another and showing that in acts of love. This extends outside of my home into my relatives’ homes. We help out where needed. Suppose that involves taking grandma to doctor appointments, mowing her lawn, or providing a meal to my sister’s family when they are sick. We care for those in our family by staying in close contact by phone or video chat. This ensures connection and knowledge of health and happiness in each household.
Resources:
Sue, Derald, W. et al. Multicultural Social Work Practice: A Competency-Based Approach to Diversity and
Social Justice. Available from: VitalSource Bookshelf, (2nd Edition). Wiley Professional
Development (P&T), 2015.
