Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Chapter 3 Families Today 85
18. Writing. Write a fi ction story entitled, “The Joys
and Trials of Living in a _____ Family Type.” Base
the story on your own family type or describe
what you think it would be like to live in a family
type different from your own. Check your story for
correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
19. Listening. Choose one family type you are not
familiar with and interview a person living in that
type of family. How did the person’s family form?
How long has the person been living in his or her
type of family? In his or her opinion, what are the
advantages and disadvantages of the family type?
Take notes about the person’s answers to these
questions and then discuss with a partner.
20. CTE Career Readiness Practice. Presume you
are a premarital counselor. Your interpersonal
skills—your ability to listen, speak, and
empathize—are a great asset in working with
clients.
You are currently counseling a woman named
Deborah, who is months away from her wedding
and is experiencing some doubts. She feels like
her fi ancé does not listen to her. When she talks to
him, he seems distracted, and sometimes he gets
angry when he misunderstands her. To give her
fi ancé a “taste of his own medicine,” Deborah has
started adopting the same behaviors. How would
you counsel Deborah to resolve the confl ict with
her fi ancé? What would you tell her about active
listening and effective communication?
Observations
21. Choose a friend who has a different type of family
from your own, and ask if you can come over for
dinner one night. While at dinner, observe how
the family interacts and consider how the family
is similar to and different from yours. List these
similarities and differences and write a short
paragraph refl ecting on how family types affect
family living and behaviors.
22. Watch one or two episodes of a television show
that features an entire family. Try to identify
where the family is on the family life cycle and
assess how healthy the family is based on
how the members interact. Write a short report
summarizing your thoughts and then present your
assessment to the class.
Core Skills
12. Listening. Ask a married adult what his or her
reasons were for getting married. Demonstrate
active listening by taking notes and being attentive.
Ask if the adult has any advice for you about
considering marriage. Share these pieces of advice
with the class. Finally, as a class, discuss the
most common reasons for marriage and assess
the health of those reasons, as well as how adults’
reasons related to their pieces of advice.
13. Speaking. In small groups, role-play the roles of
family members in each stage of the family life cycle.
In your role-plays, emphasize the changes that
take place in each stage and how these changes
impact relationships. After practicing, perform
your role-plays for the class and ask the class to
guess which stage of the family life cycle you are
representing. Lead the class in a discussion about
how roles changed during each stage.
14. Research, social studies, and reading. Choose
a culture other than your own and then use a library
or the Internet to locate a book about family living in
that culture. Read a few chapters from the book and
then write a short essay summarizing your fi ndings.
15. History and research. Use Internet or print
sources to research the Industrial Revolution
time line. What invention started the Industrial
Revolution? What other inventions contributed
to the Industrial Revolution in the United States?
How did the Industrial Revolution affect families?
Share your fi ndings with the class.
16. Art and speaking. Review the qualities of
a healthy family listed in this chapter. Then,
using this list, make a list of the qualities of
an unhealthy family. Draw two pictures—one
illustrating a healthy family and another illustrating
an unhealthy family. Present and explain your
drawings to the class.
17. Math, technology, and speaking. Visit the
United States Census Bureau website and view
the most current information about the marital
statuses and living arrangements for adults of
all races. Choose one marital status or living
arrangement and note what percentage of
the population it describes. Then, apply that
percentage to the size of your class. Give a short
presentation informing your class of how these
statistics apply to them.