Melissa's Developmental Theory

The Developmental Theory can be used to help understand the experiences in Melissa’s life with her children as well as with her husband, Nick. The Developmental Theory is defined as a theory that divides the family life cycle into phases, or stages, over the life span and emphasizes the developmental tasks that need to be accomplished by family members at each stage (DeGenova 2008). The stages in the life span were once defined as single, married, childrearing, empty nest, retirement, and widowhood. Now cohabitation, divorce and remarriage are included in the stages. This stages also used to be in a linear fashion, and now some people skip or even revisit stages (Soc 285 05 Families in Society Module 2, 2017). In Melissa’s experience she has

Marriage is a widely experiences family structure as well as marriage with children. Some couples tend to wait longer to have children now than they did in previous years. However, in 2016 49.8% of households were married and of that 19.6 were married with children (Soc 285 05 Families in Society Module 8, 2017). This has declined from the statistics in 2005. Parenting alliance is needed for parents to understand the other person’s way of parenting. If alliance is met a stronger relationship with the children is made. Children get trust from their parents, and if they see that the parents are respectful to each other they gain that ability as well. Melissa and Nick do not parent the same and I think they have had to work at parenting alliance in their marriage. It is something that takes work and time to accomplish. In the readings by Schwartz and Scott it explains how children can influence emotions, lifestyles, responsibilities, and parenting involvement. When you first acquire a child you must realize that infants and toddlers are totally dependent on parents. This can change the relationship you have with your partner. This also can change your lifestyle from the previous stage. Your hobbies tend to get disrupted as well as your routine (Schwartz and Scott 2010). It is emotional to raise kids, things such as gangs and violence are high now and it is hard for parents to let child be free and not worry about these events. In Melissa’s experience she was torn with work and sending the children to daycare. Babies do not have the same schedule as parents and it is hard to work full time with a newborn. There is a chance that each parent can become resentful. Both the marital relationship and parent-child relationship may be negatively affected (Schwartz and Scott 2010). Melissa was much more of the care taker when the kids were