Family Life Cycle

We talked about the family and its life cycle. We talked about the pros and cons of letting children experience things on their own. It has some steps:
1. Leaving Home (family of origin)- differentiation of self, or a breaking off.
2. Coupling or Marriage-
3. Parenting with Young Children-
4. Parenting Adolescence-
5. Leaving and Launching Children-
6. Retirement and Old Age-
Each of these steps is a developmental state in each persons life. We work toward these milestones to make out life meaningful. I wonder if this is why my father is so Pro-marriage for us kids. He always jokes about us getting married to get out of the house. Maybe he isnt joking after all. I wonder how my life is going to be when I reach these states. I have reached step 1 and 2 now its time for 3-6... What kind of a person am I going to be? I know who I want to be and who I feel I will be but what will happen when the dynamics of my family life changes? I look forward to growth and change. I am excited to be able to hit each of these steps in my family life cycle. I can be myself in my relationships with my children. I shared the experience of when I was a teen and my parents essentially backed off and I was able to grow and experience life on my own and in that time I too grew and became a bit more mature. I thanks my parents for that option to chose my decisions and my own lifestyle which allowed me to become myself. I know that that experience helped myself develop into a person I want to be for my children. The family is a living thing and as such it has a cycle and we as individuals play a role in it. As we are healthy in our family, we will have a healthy family cycle.