Support Within A Family

                          What is support in a family? Support can be defined as many different things. In the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary it states that support is “1: to endure bravely or quietly 2: to provide with food, clothing, and shelter 3: to up hold or serve as a foundation for” (Merriam-Webster, 2007). People define support in their own ways, but when it comes down to it, the more support someone has in their life, the better they will succeed.  Take a single parent family, a traditional family, or your extended family members; they all contribute to supporting you or even needing the support themselves.  In this post I will be focusing mainly on support in a single parent family.

                          Support is not a one sided relationship, those who receive support are more likely to return the favor.  In a study I came across while researching support, the researchers found that children who supported their mothers were more likely to have received support back (Suitor, J. J. & Sechrist, J., 2006). Support can vary between each person. Certain people need more support than others, and some people need support in ways that differ from others.

For example: a single mother with three children will distribute support too each child differently.  With the first child she may support them by going to school activities.  The second child seeks support by asking questions knowing that you will provide truthful advice.  Finally the third child could merely want acknowledgement of daily tasks that they have completed. 

         I went ahead and decided to interview my friend of a single parent family on her views of support in her family. After the interview I came to the conclusion that support is very significant to her and her family.  She lives with her grandparents, mother, and brother.  Her family has been through many trials throughout their lives, but because of support they always make the best of every situation. Her mother has worked three jobs ever since she had become a single mother to support her family. Without the support of the grandparents their family wouldn’t have a place to live.  I ended the interview by asking her for one piece of advice she would give to others about support in a single parent family she said, “when nothing seems to work out for you, don’t give up because their will always be someone there to lend a helping hand”.

To end my post I would like to provide a list of suggestions that may help you incorporate support in your everyday lives.

• Attend a school event that your child is involved in.
• Give advice when needed.
• Be there emotionally and physically
• If you say something make sure that you go through with it.
• Congratulate them on something simple. (Doing the dishes or acing that test they studied for.)

 Last but not least remember, what goes around comes around. 

Support Others!

References

Suitor, J. J. & Sechrist, J. (2006). Within-family differences in mothers’ support to adult children. Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences.

                Merriam-Webster (2007). Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus. Integrated Language Tools. Pg. 803