Free Essay Sample on Family Nursing With Childbearing Families

Introduction

While childbearing is an activity involving only the parents, the whole family is involved in the end. This is because the dynamics in a family change immediately a child is conceived, with different members of the given families being affected differently. The relationship between the family members towards each other and the newborn from when they are born to the different stages of their development in life. Therefore, there is a need for society to investigate the different aspects associated with childbearing and how childbearing affects the relationships in the families and the dynamics in the families. There is also a need for families to learn how to transition through the difference brought by the new addition to their social circle, and how the families can adapt to the change when it occurs in a manner that seems to affect them negatively. Some theories address the different aspects of family nursing in childbearing families, as discussed below.

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The Family Systems Theory

This theory argues that a family is an emotional unit that operates based on emotions like trust, love, care, and warmth towards each other. Therefore, the family unit does not depend on logic or any other ways of making decisions, but rather on the underlying emotions associated with love between people who care for each other. Therefore, this argues that emotions drive most of the activities that go on within families and that emotions are an essential aspect of the development of families. The emotions within families are therefore responsible for the decision-making processes of the unit, since the majority of the decisions made in families rely on the feelings of the members towards the decision, with positive attitudes towards the issues leading to positive feelings and negative attitudes resulting in negative feelings.

According to the family systems theory, the family unit is responsible for the emotions experienced by its members. Families are responsible for the emotional security of their members. Therefore the emotions expressed by the members result from the emotional effect that their families had on them. Through families, the members are also taught coping mechanisms to the emotions that they experience. Therefore, this explains the possibility of the family members playing a direct role in the emotional wellbeing or unwellness of their members. Families, therefore, provide their members with grounds on which they can express their emotions. If the family unit is supportive of the behaviors, then the behaviors will appear dominantly in the individual's life. However, if the families do not support the behaviors, then they will be removed from the individual's expressed behaviors. There is also the possibility of the rebellion expressed in some instances by members of individual families being as a result of the lack of emotional support for their behaviors, hence bringing in the need for them to become rebellious to get the attention of their family members.

In a childbearing family, this theory can explain the emotional dynamics experienced when a child is born to a family. As mentioned earlier, every event in a family causes emotional reactions, with childbearing creating generally positive reactions from the people concerned. When children are born to a family, the families experience the joy associated with having a new addition to their social circle. This results in the families becoming tighter and happier, with the new addition acting as the social glue for the family. When there is a newborn, the family has a lot of social gatherings and events through which the family members meet to celebrate the addition of a new member, with different members of the family, even those who did not have a cordial relationship putting aside their differences to celebrate their newest member. When this happens, the families' emotional wellbeing is improved, with the families in question experiencing stability. In some instances, some family members have had to change their behaviors and attitudes for the newest addition to their social circle.

Family Developmental Theory

This theory explores the changes experienced by families as they advance through the different stages of life. Family members have relationships and bonds that last for a lifetime, and therefore the family members walk through the different stages of life with each other. Families are the only places where an individual's steps in life can be measured and followed through the members' existence throughout the stages of life. Family provides comfort, reassurance, encouragement for the challenges encountered in life, and acts as the first point where one turns to when they have celebratory news. This is because families provide their members with the needed emotional support and reassurance that they need. The first point they turn to for celebration or when they need emotional support is their family.

The development of a family is determined by the social norms practiced within the social circle. Social norms refer to the activities that are considered to be reasonable and acceptable within a social circle. Different families have different behaviors that they consider acceptable and those that they do not approve of. When a family undertakes different courses of action and stages of development, the decision that they make along the way will be determined by the normalized kinds of behaviors within the social units. The behaviors considered abnormal will be shunned away from, and therefore they will not be practiced, while those who are normalized will be encouraged so that they may be practiced in the future. When this happens, the family will be setting the course for a different form of development within itself, with the normalization of positive behaviors leading to positive behaviors expressed by the people concerned.

Childbearing in families is an instance of development. When children are born, the social dynamics of the social unit is changed. The family grows in size through the addition of a new member, so do the family's responsibilities grow. When a child is born to a family, there arises the need for the family to be emotionally, physically, mentally, and socially prepared to accommodate the new addition to their families, and in the process, provide the social conditions needed for the development of a child. When a family gets a newborn, there is also the development of the children who had already been born in the family, since the children will grow in the reality of the newborn needing their love, care, and protection, compared to when they felt the need for the said feelings on account of them being the youngest members. There may also be the development of sibling rivalry of the existing children against the newborns since they will feel threatened by the newborn baby, especially towards their parents' attention. Changes that Occur in a Childbearing Family

From the perinatal period, it is evident that the child that is to be born in the family will change the family dynamics. There are changes in the body of the mother who carries the pregnancy, and these changes may result in the development of issues associated with childbirth and pregnancy. There may be changes in terms of the mother's productivity since the pregnancy may interfere with their normal functioning. The changes in productivity may change the economic standing of the families in question, in the process resulting in the need for the mother to undertake rigorous economic activities that may result in them being absent during the growth and development of the children once they are at an age where they can do without the constant attention from their mother. There are also changes in the families' social relationship in question since childbearing can improve the closeness of the families. Instances, whereby the families had been looking for a child for a long time, are met with joy from the successful parents, with the members from the extended family coming forward to help in raising the children and ensuring that they provide the necessary conditions for the children to have the best conditions necessary for their growth and development.

Challenges Faced by Childbearing Families

First, the parents may experience financial challenges associated with bearing children. From conception to childbirth, the parents will have to dig deeper into their pockets, which means that they may have to sacrifice some luxuries that they may have become used to provide for the newborn's needs. When this happens, the families may experience instances where they suffer from a lack of necessities, especially when the families come from the middle and lower class of society. The additional mouth to feed also brings economic challenges, since the family will have to think of ways to fulfill the new members' needs to their social circle.

There are also challenges associated with the lack of time to address the family's emotional and financial needs. Due to the fear of the inability to address their children's financial needs, parents have often opted to immerse themselves in economic activities that will help them provide for their children, sacrificing the opportunity to bond with them. This leads to the parents becoming unavailable for their children. The children grow to become mentally and emotionally unstable, resulting in the social ills and challenges associated with the lack of parental presence.

Conclusion

The lack of family values in society today is another challenge experienced by the families bearing children currently. The social standards in society have been eroded to the point where the social norms practiced previously in society have been viewed as old fashioned and that they need to be overlooked to meet contemporary society's needs. It has become a norm for families to prefer economic stability compared to social stability, which means that society will be imbalanced when it comes to safeguarding its members' wellbeing.