System Theory-Murray Bowen

System theory is where you analyze a whole group instead of all the little pieces. The little pieces referring to individual people and whole group refers to the family. The individuals influence each other and work together and outside influences have very little effect on the whole. An example is a child and one parent are very close while the other parent might be outside the bubble. You need to anaylze the family to understand what is really going on.  Sometimes there are other reason for the disagreements.

We as humans respond to emotional rather than cognitive. This is based on Murray Bowens Theory (1978). We had a mock example of this theory in class. We had a mother, father and child. The child had had alot of asthma attacks and had been to the doctor alot. The therapist (teacher) was asking about what happens exactly when the child starts to have an asthma attack. The mother responded by saying that she got all worked up and was very scared for the child. So that led them going to the doctor. While all this was happening usually the father was not home at all so the responsibility fell on the mother. If the father was home he usually didn't know what to do. He called his wife when the asthma attacks happened and she walked him through what he needed to do. As the therapist was getting the back story he kept asking questions, not in a forceful way and telling them what they needed to do, but having them come to the conclusion themselves. The father talked and said he didn't really feel like the mother gave him enough responsibility and didn't trust him to take care of the child by himself. The mother told the father what he needed to do when the child had an asthma attack. With this it gave the parents equal responsiblity and they felt like they could take care of the situation whenever it happened. The father was a very calm person and so when the asthma attacks happened afterwords he was able to calm the child, and mother down and they went to the doctors less often. Now instead of the father on the outside of the family he was in the middle supporting his wife and child.

I thought this was such a great way to learn this theory and see it play out. It helped to see the hands on experience and be able to understand and to really know how the Murray Bowen Theory really works.

Siblings are a blessing

Sometimes siblings can be a pain in the butt, but I never realized it or thought of it this way before. Because of the fact that I have siblings I know how to associate with others. I know how to work as a team. I know how to have relationships. Now as I think about it, they push you to a breaking point somedays. They will always (I hope so) be my friend, they will always be there for me. They are always there to talk to.

I have a relative that has only 1 child. They don't plan on having any more children. I worry about the child. I worry that he won't know how to share, won't know how to relate to other people, won't know how to have a relationship with others besides his parents. To me (and this is my opinion) they need to have another child. How much more richer that family would be in blessings, in this life and the next. I watch the reality show 19 kids and counting about the Duggar family. They always say how many children God gives them. If God blesses them with another then they are fine with that. I thought wow that is alot of kids and I thought maybe there should be a limit. She has gotten to a point that maybe this isn't good for her body to have these kids, but hey it is their choice and we should not be there to tell them otherwise. To think of the children and how much they are being blessed by having siblings, by being around a group, learning how to interact. They are doing something good for their family and also for the world. They are helping the society by keeping the birth rate from going down even further.

All in all I feel that family is important no matter the size but my personal preference is the more the better. If we are able to replenish the earth that is fantastic. I hope some day when I have children that I am able to have at least 5. Children are a gift from God and should be treated that way. I hope to be able to replenish the earth and help the birth rate go up instead of down as it is going now.

The facts about the birth rate and individualism comes from The New Economic Reality: Demographic Winter Part 1, Part 2. They had many good points about how the society is declining and what has lead to it, and what are the trends of society that lead to low birth rates, and low fertility rate. If you have some time they are very worth your time. Warning though, they are each 54 minutes long.

First Post

My name is Emily Lurker and I am an Interior Design major. I am taking this class for fun and needed more credits.