1. Friday Night Light’s: The Taylor
Family
Family Collage Assignment-CMS332
By: Christina Hebert

2. The Taylor family is a two-
parent biological family.
Consisting of, Father (Eric),
Mother (Tami), oldest
daughter (Julie), and new
daughter (Gracie). The
television series ‘Friday Night
Lights’ is based in Texas 2006-
20011.
Eric is a high school football
coach, and his job consumes
80% of his life.
Tami was a stay at home
mother until they desired a
dual-income and went back to
work as a high school
counselor.
Although they practice
traditional beliefs their family The Taylor Family
typology is mainly
independent . They accept
uncertainty and change.
(pg.169)

3. Current Status: Demographic Trends
 “The composition and
shape of the
contemporary family is
constantly changing. In
order to understand
family interactions fully, it
is necessary to examine
the current status of
family life in the United The Taylor family underwent numerous changes
in their family structure throughout the course
States.” (pg.11)
of the series. From internal family matters;
financially and relationally. As well as adding an
addition to the family creating a 18 year gap
between their two daughters. Job situations
differed between both Mr. and Mrs. Taylor
numerous times, effecting the family as a whole.

4. Demographic Trend’s continued…
The Taylor family represents the following trend’s vividly:
“More adult children Economic Issues:
living at home. Adult “many couples view a dual
children are remaining at income as a necessity or highly
home until an older age and desirable.” (pg.15)
children are more likely to
return after departures from
the parental home.” (pg.14) Mrs. Taylor was a stay at home
mother for 18 years. Once
The Taylor’s oldest daughter financial hardship hit their
Julie went off to college, family she decided it was time
shortly after decided to move to go back to work. Mrs. Taylor
back home and take time off. took a job as a school
Julie remained living at councilor, and realized her
home, regardless of her calling.
parents wishes.

5. De eloping Mea ing
Metacommunication.
“This occurs when people
communicate about their
communication- for example,
when they give verbal and
nonverbal indications about
how their message should be
understood.” (pg.29)
•In this clip from Friday Night Lights, Mr.
•The Taylor family does this often.
and Mrs. Taylor are using
I believe mainly because it is a
metacommunication skills. Mr. Taylor's
ABC Family series. The show’s
gestures, such as; shaking his head, and
purpose is to deal with everyday
facial expressions are explaining how he
issues and target an ideal
is feeling. Mrs. Taylor’s tone in her voice
audience. By doing so, making
expresses her frustration in the
their communication very clear
conversation.
(i.e metacommunication). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB7a_2wxlOk

6. Primary Functions
Connected. Family members experience
emotional independence as well as some sense of
involvement and belonging. (pg.31)
Mrs. Taylor feels very independent a majority of
the time. This is because her husband is the high
school football coach in Texas and is consumed by
his job 80% of the time. She learned to be
independent because she was alone so much, i.e
went back to work. Also Mr. Taylor learns to
separate football emotions and issues with his how
There are four levels of life.
cohesion. Throughout
the series the Taylor
family demonstrates the
connected level most
often.

7. The System’s Perspective
Wholeness. “A family systems approach assumes that the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts. An integration of parts characterizes the systems model.
Families exhibit characteristics that reflect individuals and the interplay of
family.”(pg.59)
The Taylor family exhibits wholeness tremendously. Although there are many of
directions each member is being pulled, they manage to come together and work
together as a family. Each member has a specialty and understands their individual
identity and the importance of interplaying their roles into the family structure.
Specialty role each play, in which help make family whole.
Julie Tami Taylor Eric Taylor
Helps parents feel Always says the Disciplinary figure.
the love. right thing. (Not
always what you
want to hear)
Very good with Mothering. Loving his daughters.
words.
Looking for Pushing Figuring out logistics.
answers. communication.
Pushing the limits. Disciplinary figure. Forgiving.

8. Communication patterns that influence meaning
 Secrets & Boundaries. “Secrets
create or reinforce boundaries- Essential. Essential secrets, which
whether between the family and
the outside world or around support necessary boundaries
individuals or subsystems. (pg.88) defining a relationship, may include
talk about fears or insecurities,
which enhance closeness and fosters
The Taylor family has their share the development of self and
of secrets. Whether these are relationships. (pg.89)
family related secrets or secrets
being held from students or
players. I would categorized the
Taylor family’s secrets as essential.

9. Relational Maintenance
 Managing a relationship takes a lot of communication, love and
apologizing! Tami Taylor and Eric Taylor have a marriage that is
maintenance at its finest.
Stafford and Conary (1991) “Identify five maintenance strategies that contribute
to romantic relational maintenance. “(pg.108)
Assurance is one of Stafford and Conary’s five strategies, the Taylor family
demonstrates this strategy most often. Assurance is exemplifying love, support and
commitment to the other. They both show promise and faith in their future.

10. Couple Rituals
Communication is a couple ritual the Taylor’s utilize.
 According to (Bruess & Kudak, 2008b) the communication ritual is
as follows, “These rituals encompass couple talk time, including the
specific times and ways couples establish opportunities for talking,
sharing, or staying in touch with each other such as debriefing
conversations, regular cell phone calls, or text messages.” (pg.115)

11. Intimacy between partnership & families
 Parent-child communication. “Parent-child discussions of
sexuality support a sense of family connectedness.” (pg.138)
Julie Taylor, Tami and Eric’s oldest daughter was frightened to tell her mother she
lost her virginity (being that she was a junior in high school). Once Tami suspected
change in her personality Julie decided to tell her mother, disappointed initially
Tami showed support and openness to her daughter’s feelings.
Although Tami was upset with her daughter’s actions, she had to display
forgiveness. Forgiveness in our book is described as, one or both partners
experience a transformation from negative to positive psychological states.

12. Specific Role Functions: Management of daily needs
“In families with
dual-earner
couples, men
tend to spend
more time than
their wives
working outside
the home, while
woman do more
inside the home
than do their
husbands
(McNeil, 2004).”
(pg.158)
The Taylor’s have a fairly traditional outlook on gender roles. For
the most part Mr. Taylor does most outdoor work, disciplining
and manual labor. Whereas Mrs. Taylor does most cooking,
housework as well as disciplining. Role negotiation is primitive.

13. Aspects of Power in Family Systems
 Power can be Mr. & Mrs. Taylor use normative resources to
categorized in demonstrate power and communicate their actions
numerous ways. The
and consequences of actions, such as; Buying Julie
Taylor family utilizes
normative resources their daughter a new car for going off to college,
in order to maintain however once she drops out they take the car back.
power within their
system. Also Mrs. Taylor decides to go back to work after
years of being a stay at home mother. Other than
financial reasons Tami wanted to feel pride and
power in contributing to her family’s livelihood.

14. Decision Making Process: Accommodation
Accommodation.
“Accommodation
occurs when some
family members
consent to a
decision not because
they totally agree
but because they While decision making Mrs. Taylor
believe that further seems to always be accommodating
discussion will be to her husbands needs and wants.
unproductive.” In the series she was offered a
(pg.197) dean’s position at a D1 University,
her husband would not move the
family for this job. However when
he was offered a coaching position
at a D2 University Mrs. Taylor
accommodated resulting in
uprooting their family despite the
desire of Mrs. Taylor.

15. Communication- Influencing Health Behaviors
 Mr. & Mrs. Taylor attempt to have an open communication
method with their oldest daughter Julie because she is in high
school and in an experimental stage. They communicate about
underage alcohol use, drug use, fitness etc.
By communicating these issues it impacts family members’ health. As our
textbook demonstrates as children grow, health promotion and discussion
may change. For example their toddler Grace is taught to not put ‘dirty things’
in her mouth, and taught proper hygiene. (pg.309)

16. Personal Negotiation is
a method I would
recommend for the
Taylor Family. The way
in which they make
decisions and problem
solve needs work.
Instead of Mrs. Taylor
surrendering to her
husbands needs she
needs to learn to
recognize her
opportunity for input.
Mr. & Mrs. Taylor need
to find new ways to
communicate while
decision making instead
of manipulating each Suggestions for Communication
other and avoiding the
process.
Improvement

17. Works Cited
 "Friday Night Lights." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 04 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758745/>.
 Galvin, Kathleen M., Carma Lee Bylund, and Bernard J. Brommel. Family
communication: cohesion and change. 8th ed. Boston: Pearson Allyn and Bacon, 2012.
Print.