Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Nicollette Roe
SOC 352
12/7/15
Assignment 5
2
the logistics of getting everything done (Contey, 1). The 11 tips Contey offers to
readers is as follows:
1. Accept what is
2. Acknowledge, often and honestly, the wacky phase of life you are in
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
together
Invest in the relationship bank account
Be honest and own your stuff
Slow down, connect, enjoy
Regulate before you communicate
Check yourself
Five to one (the rule that you must give 5 compliments for every one
3
Obviously, it takes work (two different kinds in factstated above) to make a
family function properly. The important question is who does this work?. Its
imperative to think about gender when we consider who carries out specific tasks in
the family home because it gives us a background of whether or not this equality in
the relationship is realistic for couples or partners in marriages way before
assuming they both do the equal share of the work.
One example of this would be the feeding work that is mentioned in lecture
16 by Devault. Devault states all of the work involved in feeding ones family
including but not limited to: grocery shopping, preparation, setting the table,
cleaning and serving, etc. The results are that women more than majority of the
time carry out this feeding work. This is an example of gender roles
disproportionately being divided up among the sexes based on their autonomy
rather than ability or interest. Moreover, this points out the unevenness of
household work being societally pushed more heavily onto women than men. Again,
this is valid to focus on considering its a preliminary subject that has to happen
way before we can assume that a mere 11 tips and tricks will work for the family
formation of any married or cohabitating couple with children.
Another challenge or aspect in family formation that effects the functionality
and ability of the parents is their class status. Gender and class relate closely in
analyzing this article because gender influences the jobs and opportunities available
to people and that in turn effects your class status by how much income, education,
and connections one can make. With less opportunity based on gender, one makes
less money and is considered poor, working class, middle class (divided into two
levels), and upper class.
4
In chapter 8 of Cherlins reader, Work and Families it states The
movement of mothers into the paid workforce is one of the most significant changes
in family life over the past half century (page 164). This is notable to better
understand the history of women in the workforce and how it came to be in the
present day situation. Because most mothers are employed outside the home, they
cannot do as much housework and childrearing as they used to. Men are doing more
work in the home but not enough to fully compensate. (page 164).
In short, these two social factors influence the way the family is able to
manage work because theyre social structures that essentially pre-build what
parents do in their relationships. I felt this was necessary to think about when
talking about how to make a relationship retain its intimate, romantic strength such
as the article on Huffington Post because it influences one to think outside of what
the surface shows. These tips and tricks are only manageable or achievable when
one first understands their own family functions and roles. It is not to say that all
women or all men do these things; rather, its to show the history of these
relationships in the family and how they may continue to change even.
All in all, I would highly suggest prompting people to first not question
in which ways they can spice up their relationships after the chaos of kids enters
your life but rather what relationship dynamics are working and what about them do
you like or dislike? This way, it can be practice on each individuals specific
relationships and situations where they may or may not be able to have time to
ponder their self-care needs based on influences such as work, childcare, etc. That
is how one will truly find the knowledge of how to stay connected in the early years
after delivering baby. Life and relationships is not one size fits all as much as the
article would like to presume it is.
Bibliography
Contey, Carrie. "11 Strategies to Strengthen Your Partnership in Early Family Life."
The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 July 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2015.
Cherlin, Andrew J. Public and Private Families: A Reader. 7th ed. New York: McGrawHill, 2013. 29 & 164. Print.
Cherlin, Andrew J. "Work and Families." Public and Private Families: A Reader. 7th
ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.