# Handout 3.14: Family Structures and Life Cycle

Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________ Partner: ______________

**Directions:** Part 1 is the four jobs every family does. Part 2 is the structures chart; fill the example column as we go. Part 3 is twelve scenarios to match. Part 4 is the compare box. Part 5 is the family life cycle and transitions. Every family in this handout is fictional. Nobody is asked to write about their own family.

## Part 1: What every family does

A family is defined by what it does, not by who is in it.

| Job | What it means | An example from a show, a book, or a game |
|---|---|---|
| Care | Keeps you safe and fed | |
| Teach | Rules, language, how to treat people | |
| Provide | A home, food, clothes, money | |
| Belong | You are theirs and they are yours | |

A relationship is a connection between people with expectations on both sides. A family is a set of relationships with the four jobs attached. The state calls the family "the basic unit of society": society is built from families the way a wall is built from bricks.

## Part 2: The structures chart

| Structure | What it means | Example (fictional) |
|---|---|---|
| Nuclear | Two parents and their children | |
| Single parent | One parent and their children | |
| Blended | Two families joined; step-parents and step-siblings | |
| Extended | Grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins in the home or close by and part of daily life | |
| Adoptive | A child legally joined to a family that is not their birth family | |
| Foster | A family caring for a child placed with them for a time by the state | |
| Grandparents raising grandchildren | Grandparents who are the daily caregivers | |
| Guardian | An adult who is legally responsible for a child but is not a parent | |
| Others | Two moms or two dads; a parent who is deployed; a family split between two countries; a family with a close friend who is "like an aunt" | |

Every one of these is a family because every one of them does the four jobs.

Structure names in other languages [check with a native speaker before printing]:

| English | Turkish | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| nuclear family | çekirdek aile | família nuclear | familia nuclear |
| single parent family | tek ebeveynli aile | família monoparental | familia monoparental |
| blended family | birleşik aile | família reconstituída | familia ensamblada |
| extended family | geniş aile | família extensa | familia extensa |
| adoptive family | evlat edinen aile | família adotiva | familia adoptiva |
| guardian | vasi | responsável legal | tutor |

## Part 3: Scenario match

Write the structure each scenario shows. Some fit two; write both.

| # | Scenario | Structure(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leo lives with his mom and dad and his little sister. | |
| 2 | Amara lives with her dad. Her mom lives in another state and she visits in the summer. | |
| 3 | Theo's mom married a man with two daughters. Now all five live together. | |
| 4 | Nadia lives with her grandmother and her grandmother's sister, who have raised her since she was two. | |
| 5 | Sam was adopted as a baby by two parents who could not have children. | |
| 6 | Omar lives with his parents, his grandfather, and his aunt in one apartment. His grandfather walks him to school. | |
| 7 | Ruby has lived with the same foster family for a year while her mom gets help. | |
| 8 | Kai lives with his older brother, who is 24 and is his legal guardian. | |
| 9 | Ines lives with her mom and brother. Her dad works in another country, sends money home, and calls every night. | |
| 10 | Jordan lives with his two dads. | |
| 11 | Maya's mom is deployed overseas. Maya lives with her dad and her grandmother moved in to help. | |
| 12 | Diego's dad remarried, and his stepmom's parents live next door and pick him up from school every day. | |

## Part 4: Compare two structures

Structure 1: ______________________ Structure 2: ______________________

One way they are alike: ________________________________________________

One way they are different: ________________________________________________

One role that might differ (who cooks, who signs the permission slip, who you go to when you are sick): ________________________________________________

## Part 5: The family life cycle and transitions

The life cycle is a loop, not a ladder.

| Stage | What is happening |
|---|---|
| Forming | Two people or one person decide to make a home |
| Growing | A child comes: by birth, adoption, or fostering |
| School years | Children in school; the family runs on a schedule |
| Teen years | Children becoming independent; rules change |
| Launching | A young adult leaves |
| Later years | A couple or a single adult again; often grandparents |

Transitions can happen at any stage: a move, a new sibling, a job change or a job lost, a divorce or a separation, a death, a new country.

A transition changes the shape. It does not un-family the family.

Pick one scenario from Part 3 and one transition. Scenario ____ Transition: ______________________

What changes: ________________________________________________

What stays the same: ________________________________________________

Stretch: Why is the life cycle drawn as a loop and not a line? ________________________________________________

## Exit card: 3-2-1 (on the index card)

3 structures from memory. 2 of the four jobs. 1 sentence: "No one family structure is better than another because ___" with an example from a scenario, not a real family.

* * *

## Teacher key

**Part 3:** 1 nuclear. 2 single parent. 3 blended. 4 grandparents raising grandchildren (accept extended or guardian too; the grandmother is the daily caregiver). 5 adoptive (also nuclear). 6 extended. 7 foster. 8 guardian. 9 nuclear or "others" (a family split between two countries); accept single parent with a reason. 10 nuclear or "others." 11 nuclear plus extended (the grandmother moved in); the deployment is a transition. 12 blended plus extended.

Nine of twelve with a sensible structure is "got it." A pair that writes "extended" for every scenario with a grandparent gets the question "is the grandparent part of daily life, or visiting?"

**Part 4,** a strong answer: "Blended and extended are alike because both have more adults in the child's life than a nuclear family. They are different because in a blended family the extra adults are step-parents and in an extended family they are relatives. A role that might differ: in a blended family, who signs the permission slip might depend on which parent has the child that week; in an extended family, a grandparent might sign."

**Part 5,** a strong answer: "Scenario 6 (extended) and a death: if the grandfather dies, what changes is who walks Omar to school and the family is grieving. What stays the same is that the parents and the aunt still do the four jobs, and Omar still belongs." Stretch: a loop because a family can be at two stages at once (a teen and a toddler), and because later years leads back to forming or growing when grandparents raise grandchildren.

**Exit card:** "got it" when the sentence uses the four jobs or a scenario: "No one family structure is better than another because Nadia's grandmother and Leo's mom and dad both care, teach, provide, and make the child belong."