Various Essays

Caregivers and Their Rolls

A/N: 1024 Words, 8 Paragraphs. This one's a little long but I hope you enjoy it. If you do remember to VOTE and leave me your feedback in the COMMENTS. Thanks! -Cigolavon

Every family has a story. And like every good, or bad, story there are many different chapters in the family's life. Weather good or bad when two people decide to start a family, they're also starting a new story. It's up to them to design every chapter. Every decision the family, or the parents make effects their story. In a good way, or a bad way.

In the begging it might start with just a mom and dad. Them deciding to be together and get married, or to just be together. They vow to love and support one another for the extent of the relationship.

The next step is when they decide to start a family. They are no longer just responsible for themselves and their own wellbeing. Deciding to have children means they're excepting the lifetime of responsibilities that come with raising a baby into a child, and that child into a hopefully successful adult. It's important for this family to have the skills, patients and understanding it takes to raise a child. Not to mention, none of it's going to be cheap. Babies need all sorts of new things. Diapers, clothes, and new clothes every few months because boy do babies grow fast. Formula, breast pumps, car seats, strollers, cribs, bouncers, changing tables, more diapers, all of these things are part of being a new parent and that's not even all of it. It's also vital that the parents to be are able to take care of themselves, by eating right and maintaining fulltime jobs to financially support their family.

After the family has a child (or maybe more like 2, or 3, etc. children) then they begin the parenting cycle. The parents roll then evolves from sheltering and protecting their child into informing and guiding them to make good decisions on their own. For this cycle of life parents need to be understanding and try to think back to when they were younger. Did they find something unfair as a kid? Maybe there's some things that the parent would want to do different or better than their parents. Wanting the best for your kids is fantastic. Wanting it and pushing for it because it's what you want can be harmful. It's the parent's job to listen to their children and be supportive of their interests. For example a parent might really want their child to play soccer, but the child would rather be on the swim team. It's not the parent's job to push what they want. It's their job to support their children. Even if it means sitting though swim meets instead of cheering by the soccer field. This is also the phase where parents will have to find reliable child care which can be expensive. If/ when I have children I know my parent's won't mind watching them. I know this because we've talked about it for the future and because when I was a child my parent's always left me with my grandma or my grandparents. If that's not an option some families would have to look into childcare elsewhere. For example using a daycare, or hiring a babysitter.

The cycle that comes next is the launching cycle. This is when the first child leaves the house to the time the last child leaves the house. During this cycle it's important for the parents to be able to let their children go and become independent adults. Parent's need to hope that they've done the best they could and that their child will make the correct decisions and become successful on their own. Parents can continue to be there for the children in this cycle. Though this is usually a smaller roll. Lending an ear when the child needs to talk and offering advice if it's wanted. The parent can also sometimes still help the child financially, by sending them money, or by picking up necessities for the child.

The last two phases are similar in my opinion. First there's the mid-life cycle. In this cycle the children should be financially responsible adults. They also could be beginning the couple phase for a new branch of family. How much the parents are involved with their young adults depends on the situation. For example, how far away the family lives from one another. Whether or not the parents and young adults have work schedules that match up. Also the Young adults and parents both have to have a willingness to be in each other's lives. If the child felt neglected by their parents growing up they may not want a close relationship once they move out on their own. Or if the parent felt disappointed or betrayed by the child they might not desire a relationship with their own child. It's sad and unfortunate to have families fall apart but it all depends on the parents' capability to raise their children.

The last cycle is the aging cycle. More often than not this is when parents become grandparents and their young adults are becoming the parents. During this cycle is also when the now grandparents would retire from their jobs. Either because it's become too hard to work, or simply because their age no longer allows them to work. Once they enter retirement the grandparents began to live off of their pension. This means they receive a set amount of money every month to live off of. A way the grandparents can be there for their children is by being there for the grandchildren. Because they were parents, they know how hard it is to raise a child, they should be happy to help make the parenting cycle easier on their own children. Sometimes this can even include things like, paying for school clothes/ supplies, buying healthy food to feed their grandchildren, buying books, or puzzles for the child to do while visiting.

There are many chapters in the story of raising a family. There are also many varying responsibilities and costs to each and every cycle and chapter a family goes through. As long as the family is well prepared for what's ahead they can always plan for good chapters.