En clase

My topic is an odd one. I am writing about the generalizations that people make, about their families. This is a little bit situational based on your own family, but I am hoping to hit the most common and incorrect, or misconceived stereotypes. Everyone knows that they exist, and unless you have one of the good ones, it would be nice to establish the inaccuracy that they contain. A good example of what I am thinking is the term "soccer mom." Since when did it become derogatory to haul your kids to their team practices. Another I love is the "older sibling syndrome." Some of these I choose to personally tag as what I believe them to be. The "older sibling syndrome" is the constantly competitive, obnoxiously authoritative, and belittling attitude of an elder sibling. To me the options are infinite; someone always feels ostracized by their family for some reason.

To research for this I plan to use other experiences that people have had in their own lives along with my own to compare and verify the data. The material I am writing on is based a lot on psychological effects that actions by family members inevitably have on their recipients. To determine the actual scientifically verified consequences, I will look into psychology books, and will hopefully find some case studies that are relevant. Psychology is one of the topics that I either find extremely interesting, or extremely superfluous. I have studied psychology at the introductory levels and have a few textbooks that I can go back to and dig up the information I studied about familial relationships. It's amazing to know the impact you have on someones life. A few simple word could mean the absolute most to them. What I would like to learn about is how to maximize relationships. I know that ignorantly I say things to people and unintentionally cause some rifts. For this I would like to research and develop an idea of how people determine the role of another person in their lives. Family relationships automatically hold more weight with most people. That is why I am focusing here. The stories I hear about fathers who have trouble conveying emotion and therefore negatively effect future relationships their children have, interest me to no end. Why does it matter so much what your father thinks? Why can't a child develop separate ways of functioning in relationships?

Not only are parental impacts important. There are the interactions between brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and step siblings or half siblings. All in all my options are endless. There are no definitive boundaries set on this topic. I am completely enthralled in the possibilities so the writing hopefully will convey that.