CMS family collage

1. A Picture is Worth a Thousand
Words
By:
Caitlyn Hallowell

2. Introduction
Featuring:
Pamela: Mother, Head of household
Caitlyn: ME (22)
Logan: The rebel (17)
Hannah: The baby of the family (14)
Winston: The family dog

3. Definition
“Generally, we refer to families as networks of
people who share their lives over long periods of
time bound by ties of marriage, blood, law, or
commitment, legal or otherwise, who consider
themselves as family and share a significant history
and anticipated future functioning as a family”
(Galvin,Bylund & Brommel, 2012, p.8)

4. Family Type
My family would be classified as a single-parent family. My mom is
unmarried and resides in Gardiner, Maine with my younger siblings.
Even though my mom is the primary provider, our family receives a
tremendous amount of help and support from members of our
extended family (more specifically, my aunts, Kathryn and Linda).

5. Communication Functions
o The Circumplex model of marital and family systems
“Two central dimensions of family behavior, or family operations are at the core of
the model: family cohesion and family adaptability” (Galvin,Bylund & Brommel,
2012, p.8)
o Cohesion
My family is very close, connected and enjoys spending time together. However, each
member also has their own emotional independence.
o Adaptability
Change is constant and things rarely always stay the same in my family. Because of
this, we have learned to be “flexible” with our roles, rules and decision making.

6. Family-of-Origin
“People often create relationships and marriages similar to that of
their parents because they enact a family pattern” (Galvin,Bylund &
Brommel, 2012, p.46)
My whole family is extremely close and each member (including extended) has
learned the importance of valuing one another.
My mom is exceptionally close
with her four sisters.
Understanding her relational
patterns and her overall
developed relationships with
them has helped shape the
relationships that my siblings
and I have with each other.

7. For Example…
Here are some photographs that show
the created relationships with our
extended family. We are carefree,
fun and absolutely RIDICULOUS!

8. Systems Perspective
Interdependence:
“Interdependence serves as the centerpiece of
a system” (Galvin,Bylund & Brommel, 2012,
p.59)
o Because my family is so dependent on my
mom, the primary provider, a simple
change made by her will ultimately result
in a change made by every other member
of our system (my siblings and me).
Wholeness:
“A family systems approach assumes that the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts”
(Galvin,Bylund & Brommel, 2012, p.59).
o When we are all together in one place, we
function best. This is because all of our
behaviors arrive from the many
interactions with each particular
member.

9. Family Themes
“Essentially, themes represent a fundamental view of reality
and a way of dealing with this view” (Galvin,Bylund & Brommel,
2012, p.40).
o Our particular theme: You can depend only on your family.
This is demonstrated by our extreme closeness and constant
support.

10. Rituals
“A family ritual is broadly defined as a voluntary,
recurring patterned communication event whose jointly
enacted performance by family members pays homage to
what they regard as sacred, thereby producing and
reproducing a family’s identity and web of social
relations” (Galvin,Bylund & Brommel, 2012, p.114).
o Our family rituals surface mostly during the holidays
and when relatives are visiting from far distances. Also,
we play board games…a lot. We LOVE them! Our
favorites are Taboo and Pictionary.

11. Rituals Cont.…
My mom has developed this weird
habit of taking pictures of our
feet everywhere we go. It gets
annoying but she never forgets to
snap a picture. We have been
doing this for years. It is
definitely a ritual now.
Every year we have a pumpkin
carving party. We carve our
pumpkins with power tools…Odd,
I know, but it works SO well! Its
become a ritual now.

12. Family Roles
Each member of a family has a role. My mom by far
has the hardest and the most important role.
However, she succeeds at nurturing her children,
providing support, empathy and managing our daily
needs. I can’t imagine life without her!

13. Above and Beyond
Besides fulfilling her normal, everyday roles…she likes to
go above and beyond to ensure our happiness. For
example---this past September she bought our whole
family plane tickets to California. My extended family also
joined us and together, we all went to Hollywood,
Disneyland and Venice Beach.

14. Roles Cont.…
Myself (daughter): I am the outspoken and fun
family member. If I have something to say, I
say it. I am also pretty funny…I think : )
Logan (son): Logan gets into a lot of trouble.
So because of him, there usually is never a dull
moment in our family.
Hannah (daughter): Hannah is the baby of the
family…and I would also say the princess. She
is very spoiled but very smart.

15. Family Typology
Pluralistic families are high in conversation
orientation and low in conformity. They have open
communication and emotional supportiveness within
their families. This is us! Sometimes I think we might
be a little too open because we talk about everything.

16. Decision Making
“Decision making is the process by which family members
make choices, reach judgments, or arrive at solutions
that end uncertainty” (Galvin,Bylund & Brommel, 2012,
p.194).
My mom makes the majority of the decisions that relate to
Hannah and Logan, but it usually done using consensus.
This allows for compromise and flexibility with them.
Because I am 22 and live on my own, I am responsible for
my own decision making…although I still seek input from
my mom. Mom knows best!

17. Conflict
“ From a communication perspective, interpersonal conflict
may be viewed as an expressed struggle between at least two
interdependent parties, who perceive incompatible goals,
scarce sources, and interference from the other party in
achieving their goals” (Galvin,Bylund & Brommel, 2012,
p.210).
o My family experiences a high level of conflict. We all have
similar personalities and in general, are a very loud family.
o In order to resolve our conflicts we use collaboration and
compromise.

18. Work Cited
Galvin, K., Bylund, C., & Brommel, B. (2012). Family
Communication Cohesion and Change. (8 ed.).
Pearson Education, Inc.