Family Life

After reading "The Color of Family Ties" by Gerstel and Sarkisian, I found the article interesting. They talked about blacks and latinos/as and how their family ties are weaker than the whites. Extended families and the help they provide for their relatives. They talked about how blacks and latinos/as receive lower income than whites and education. How social class rather than culture is the key to understanding the differences, etc. But the part that really caught my attention was the part about the extended families, simply because I can relate to what the passage was stating. Families rely on their extended family members when they are in bad situations or when they are down and out. Extended families tend to help with transportation, household problems, and child care support. Also when they have a family member that's in need of shelter, they're willing to take them in their home for a while. This particular situation has to do with black and latino/as families, simply because their families don't have as much as whites.

From personal experience there's been times when family members needed help whether it was getting help trying to pay bills, having transportation from place to place, or even finding a babysitter. Almost every household in my family have a car, and most of them have at least one or two cars and 3 at the most, so whenever someone who doesn't have a car or their car is messed up, someone with more than one vehicle wouldn't have a problem with letting them borrow a car to get around. In my family there are also a lot of children, and when their parents have to work or run errands, their in need of babysitters. My family is very helpful when it comes to helping with the children.

I always wondered what life would be like when I got older and here I am at 18 going on 19 years old and I see what it's about. Growing up I always wondered why I couldn't get everything I wanted because in my eyes I didn't really know the expenses of life itself. Ex: having to pay bills, making sure there is food in the house, gas, etc. Now that I'm older I see why things went the way they did and that's why I chose to further my education so I can get a great job, have a family and don't have to really worry about stuff. I see the single adults with children in my family and it doesn't seem like it's no fun trying to take care of kids and stay on top of everything on your own.