The topic that has really stuck out to me this week is the dynamics in a family. The kind of family you have can change based on how many kids you have, the ages of the kids, the gender of the kids, etc. A family is like a small community with its own dynamics and each child has their own roles. I have seen these dynamics take action in my own family, as well as other families in my community. 

There are four children in my family, and the dynamics are pretty simple. My older brother and I are very close, being the first two children in the family. We grew up playing together in the sandbox and being the best of friends. My two younger siblings are the same way. I love all my siblings but because of the age difference I have a different relationship with my older brother than I do with my youngest sister. This is just one example of how age has a major impact on family dynamics. It is often shown that the oldest child in the family takes a parental role to the younger siblings. They can sometimes be seen as “the bossy one” or “the responsible one.” The youngest child is seen as the opposite. In my family, we tease the youngest as being “the spoiled one.” Then we have the middle child. Middle children are a different breed. It is pretty much a wild card, but let’s just say if there is a child in time out it is probably them. Because these stereotypes exist, does not mean that every family follows this outline. Just the way that a family is set up can impact the children’s thoughts and actions. 

Although age is a big aspect in a family, the number of children can greatly impact the dynamics. Even just an odd or even amount of children can be very different. I have a friend who is the middle of  five children in her family, and because there are two older than her and two younger, she is often the odd one out. In her family, there were originally supposed to be four children, but since the fourth was born without an arm, her parents decided to have another child because when a child has a younger sibling they tend to feel superior or responsible for that sibling. The dynamics would change for that sibling just because of an extra sibling in the family. There is a family in my ward with ten children, which is a little crazy. Something that I have noticed about this family is that the youngest sibling and the oldest sibling do not even act like siblings. The oldest child is more like a parent figure to that child. Because there are so many children in the family, causes such a great age gap that the youngest sibling could be learning how to talk while the oldest has already moved out of the house. The relationship between the two siblings is very distant. With that many kids in one house can also cause different groups to form. The oldest three or four children are a group, the middle children are a group, and the youngest children are a group as well. At this point is when the family becomes its own little community. In a family with very few children, the siblings become very close and form a stronger relationship in just one small group.

The final characteristic of the family that affects the dynamics is gender. I have three older boys and one youngest girl in my family. There are times when I can only relate to my brothers about certain things, because of our gender. Our household consists of lots of outdoor activities, wrestling, getting dirty outside, and other boy things. I have a friend who is very different from mine and has five girls in her family and no boys. It is crazy to see how different the family dynamics are from hers to mine. Her household consists of lots of boy talk and fighting over the curling iron or who has been in the bathroom the longest. My little sister refuses to talk about boys to any of us, but in a house of girls it is completely different. By looking at other families compared to my own, it is clear to see that characteristics such as age, gender, and number of kids have a major impact on what kind of family you have. There are plenty of stereotypes about the typical family, but every family is different. Boys will act differently than girls. A family of four is going to be significantly different than a family of ten. No family is better than another because every family has their struggles as well as unforgettable times.