Post 3

The most interesting thing that I read this week in chapter 12 was the family life cycle. The development of a family goes through 7 stages. The stages are as follows: establishing a family, enlarging a family, developing a family, encouraging independence, launching children, post-launching of children, and retirement. The first stage,establishing a family, is when the two partners get comfortable in their new environment  The labels of  "husband" and "wife" are accustomed and no longer considered "new". The second stage, enlarging a family is when the partners decide they are ready to have children. The third stage, developing a family is when a families children are in elementary school or high school. The fourth stage is encouraging independence. This is when the children in the family because adults are developing who they are and their interests and social circles. The fifth stage is launching children; this is when children go into college or learn hoe to live on their own. The sixth step is post launching children  This is when the children have left the home and the couple is again the primary unit. The final stage is retirement. This is when couples no longer work full time jobs.