Family Scenarios Project The microsystem refers to the activities and relationships with significant others experienced by a developing

person in a particular small setting such as family, school, peer group, or community (Berns, 2010). This system affects the children because in their family the children are structured and disciplined. The family spends a lot of time together and the children get to see their nearby grandparents briefly two times a week. They tend to have family gatherings six times a month. The children get to see their family very often especially turning summer and winter weekends. Sometimes they have older cousins that babysit the children while the parents go out. The children are loved by their entire family and are very closed to them because their family is very nourishing. The mesosystems consists of linkages and interrelationships between two or more of a developing persons microsystem (Berns, 2010). An example of linkage would be between family and school as in conferences because school conferences involve members of a childs family. I asked Jani if she has noticed a linkage between their family and school. Jani answered There is a linkage because we are very involved with Breannes schooling and we do have short frequent conferences with her teacher. Breanne enjoys telling and showing us all as a family the things she is doing in her class. The exosystem refers to setting in which children do not actually participate, but which affect them in one of their microsystems (Berns, 2010). For example a parents job typically is something that children are not actually participating in yet it affects the children. In Janis case she works out only out of the home so her children are actually somewhat involved. However, Janis home job still affects her children especially her boy Kent who is still too young to go

school. Jani mentioned Kent gets bored when I have things that I need to get done and cannot be playing with him. Jani does a lot of secretary type work, keeping track of all bills and payments. When being part of farming there is a lot of extra paper work that goes into everything you do. Plus she does all house chores such as cleaning, cooking, and laundry yet still helping out with outside farm chores for Eric. The macrosystem consists of the society and subculture to which the developing person belongs, with particular reference to the belief systems, lifestyles, patterns of social interaction, and life changes (Berns, 2010, p. 22). The macrosystems include religion, science/technology, political ideology, economics, and culture/ethnicity. Jani and Eric take their children to church each Sunday, which is an example of one macrosystem. The children have learned discipline and respect for their familys religion and know how to act during church mass. The chronosystem involves temporal changes in ecological systems, or within individuals, producing new conditions that affect development (Berns, 2010, p.25). The textbook gives the example that significant societal events can produce a variety of effects on the children and Jani understood this due to the changings in security. We talked about the changes we have seen for ourselves compared to what things were like at a time before the 9/11 attack. It was very rare to see any cameras in our school system and now they have cameras that are being monitored in all our area schools. Considering this familys composition I found three resources which may be of interest to them. The first resource I think they may be interested in is the website for our communitys community center. I know that sports are an interest to them and they may want to know more information about events going on at our Jay Community Center. The website contains lots of

information and you can sign up for monthly newsletters. The website is http://www.jaycc.org/ and I think it is one Jani would like to check out. Another resource I think may be of interest to the family would be a Catholic newspaper that they could sign up for through called The Catholic Moment. It has articles for adults and an activities page for children. They can sign up for it through the church they attend. Our community also has a place called the Arts Place and I think this family might be interested in some of the things it has to offer. At the Arts Place they can go see art work that has been done by people of our community and they could sign up for art classes, or purchase tickets to see a play in the theater. For more information about the Arts Place and all it has to offer, they could stop in and visit or go to http://www.artsland.org/ for ideas of what may interest them. Two choices of day care in the community I would recommend if they needed it, taking in all considerations would be Educare or Head Start and A Place To Grow. The Head Start facility and website (http://www.cfsheadstart.com/) would be beneficial to the family even if they had a child with disabilities. Head Start can meet needs and learning styles of all young children. Head Start and Educare would be a resource they could use for Kent because he is not yet in school. A Place To Grow is a daycare for all ages including babies to school aged children that is available for children to have a place to go when it is necessary. Going to the local office of the Jay County Division of Family Resources could be very beneficial to the family if they had concerns or needed information and help if a child of theirs ended up having a disability. It would have services to provide them with different benefits they could apply for. They would also want to contact the Jay County School district for more information on having a child with a disability in school.

For the familys values and beliefs I think they may find the Jay County Public Library to be a good resource. They could learn more information about values and beliefs in many ways and going out to places in the community would allow them to meet more people that may share an input with them. Another resource would be for them to go to public meetings in their community. This would allow them to hear what is going on in their community and how they feel about it based on their values and beliefs. Jani and Eric could even speak up at a meeting if they felt strongly about a topic. I think my family in this project deals with life changes well because they are very close to their extended family and friends. They would know they have people who are there for them and would do all they can to help them out. If a fire destroyed their house and belongings they would rely on their family and friends for support. They could stay with someone until they figured out another plan. If there was sudden unemployment of both parents they would need to borrow money and look for employment. In the case of a death of a family member or close friend they would know how they could cope and who to rely on. They are very strong family and would seek comfort. They could go to the Community and Family Services office, the homeless shelter, and use more resources that I have already mentioned such as libraries or other public places in the community to get information during a time of crisis. If this family wanted to celebrate Breanne completing Kindergarten at the end of the school year they could use resources to plan a party to invite people who are important to Breanne and the accomplishment. They could invite family members, friends, people from the school, and people from their church. They could have the celebration at the community center or the meeting room at the library so that if they wished not to have it at their home. A phone

book and calendar of events going on would be great resources for them to have while trying to plan and make the arrangements.

References Berns, R. M.(2010). Child, Family, School Community Socialization and Support. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning Jani, Personal Interviews. October. 2012.