Family Life Cycle Stages
	Provide specific examples of problems that may emerge during these stages:
	1. Unattached Young Adult - must deal with seperating from the family of origin (FOI); achieving independence; form intimate adult relationships otuside the FOI; establish an occopuational identity
	2. Joining Families (FOI and Nuclear) through marriage/partnerships - commits to a new family life and roles; including in-laws.
	3. Family with Young children - Couple's relationship expands/changes with birth of children; form new roles (parental) and responsibilities)
	4. Family with Adolescents - Consider growth and independence.
	5. Parents begin as a couple, as children become young adults and separate from the family - couple learn to adjust to being together, without children in the home; accept their own aging; cope with aging parents and preparation for death.
	6. Family in later life - Adjust/cope with retirement; physical/mental decline, coming mortality

	Healthy Families
	How many typify your family/families you know?
	1. Communicates and listens
	2. Fosters table time and conversation
	3. Affirms and supports one another
	4. Teaches respect for others
	5. Develops a sense of trust
	6. Has a sense of play and humor
	7. Has a balance of interaction among members
	8. Shares leisure time
	9. Exhibits a sense of shared responsibility
	10. Teaches a sense of right and wrong
	11. Has a strong sense of family, with a history and traditions
	12. Respects one another's privacy.

	Happy Families (Longres Text)
	How many do you know? When are these acceptable/satisfactory?
	1. The Total Relationship (Very rare, but does exist and can endure): Vital relationships where there is practically no pretenses between partners, and almost all important focuses of life are shared. The relationship reinforces one another, and there are few areas of tension. Differences of opinion may occur, but they are settled easily through discussion and compromise
	2. The Vital Relationship: Sharing between partners and togetherness are genuine. The relationship is the essence of life for each of them. There is a mutual understanding, but partners do not lose their seperate identities. On occassion, they can be rivals and competitive. When there is conflict, it is usually over important issues, and it is handled without name calling or accusations
	3. The Conflict-Habituated Relationship: There is tension adn conflict at times, but they are mostly controlled. The couple is discreet and mannerly in public, but they may quarrel in private. They seem to need conflict and depend on it to solidify their relationship. To stop quarreling may end the relationship, for this is what they are used to.
	4. The Devitalized Relationship Love and romance that marked earlier years have given way to a sense of duty and obligation. Where the partners once expressed love and spent a great deal of time together, they more or less go their seperate ways. Their time together is mostly structured around activities involving children, extended family, or friends and associates. They do share thoughts and feeliings at times, and they have memories of a more vital past. They see themselves as being like most of the friends. Many believe that their relationship is no more or less than would be expected with the passing of time.
	5. The Passive-Congenial Relationship: Usually does not have a loving or romantic past. From the beginning, there was little hope for anything else, so there is a feeling that nothing has been lost. The relationship feels comfortable and satisfactory. There is little conflict. Each partner has found pleasure and interest outside the relationship - in their careers, children, community/other activities. yet the relationship fits their needs in a utilitarian sense. It is useful, practical, convenient. They are viewed as "Family People." There is peace and quiet in the home. There may even be love and gratitude that they accept each other for who they are. For people who require considerable independence and freedom, this kind of relationship can be fulfilling.

Tasks of Mourning

1. Accepting Loss - being able to talk about it... see the person dead... attend the service - it's a wrap-up of their life. 2. Experience the pain of the loss or it won't go away... be responsible for your emotions. It takes work to get better - doesn't just happen. "The Grief Recovery Handbook" - Guided imagery, pulling kleenex out of boxes; etc. 3. Adjusting to environment. Define who they are without the person. Discover your strength to get out of the victim role. 4. Relocating the dead person in our life. They're still in your life - just differently. The only aspect that ever ends is the physical aspect. Key word in grief is Agony. Sadness changes from wrenching to mellow. Sadness - then people are growing out of it. No point in rushing life - we'll go when we go and we should enjoy what we have.Grief doesn't equal forgetting = honoring.