The Black Family: Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model

4. The Black Family: A Black Family Conference.

The black family is diverse and ever changing, far from traditional standards. Personally, I don’t think you can categorize the black family as a whole. Times are changing and traditional family structures are becoming less of the norm. The definition of family can include biracial partners, inter-faith partners, homosexual partners, single mothers/fathers, co-parenting, blended families, etc. Though the construction of a lot of black families are unique, issues concerning mental health, racial identity, education, etc are likely to still affect each family in some form.

Mental health and education are two issues I perceive to be challenging black families. African Americans are overrepresented

The model was created by Urie Bronfenbrenner, illustrating his belief that a person's development is affected by everything in their surrounding environment. It divides ones environment into five levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. The microsystem represents the immediate environment (parents, school, peer group, community environment, etc.) the mesosystem shows connections (interactions between parents and teachers, parents and friends, etc.) the exosystem signifies the indirect environment (community resources, media, work policies, extended family networks, etc.), the macrosystem highlights social and cultural value (laws and governmental resources, broader cultural values, etc.), while the chronosystem exemplifies changes over time (new siblings, war,

My families pretty big so to no surprise over the past ten years I’ve accumulated a lot of nieces and nephews. Watching them grow and develop is astonishing to observe. In class, I can’t help but relate what we’re learning to them. I try my best to remember the information I’d obtained so later when I talk to my sisters I can bring it up and give them suggestions on how to raise their child. Probably, not the best idea telling someone else how to raise their child but I know my sisters won’t take offense to it considering they know I’m only trying to help. For instance, in class we discussed at what age is it appropriate to allow your child to watch TV and use technology devices, moreover, how much is too much. The recommendation that children shouldn’t start watching TV or using technology devices until the age of 2 and that even still it should be limited was repeated to all my sisters. Whether or not they listened isn’t truly under my control. Now, whenever I watch my nieces or nephews I dedicate a portion of the time reading to or getting them to read me stories. Additionally, we’ll play a few learning games on the