Bowens concept of Triangles
According to Bowens family systems theory, triangles are defined as “the smallest stable relationship system” (Knauth, 2003). Triangles are when two individuals in a family (a mother and father) bring in another individual (a child) to help defuse the anxiety that is built among the first two individuals. For example, if a mother and father/husband and wife are experiencing hard times and added stress/pressure on their relationship, the mother may become closer and begin to depend more on a child to help relieve the new stress and anxiety he/she is experiencing. In the world of child life, triangle may be both a good and bad thing. Triangles may be useful when a parent is sick and the other parent brings a child …show more content…
In other words, throughout generations, children respond to how their parents react and cope with stress and anxiety. Children observe their parents’ behaviors such as their mood, attitudes, and actions. By observing and learning from their parents, children often develop a level of “self” similar to that of their parents. However, it can be said that based on children's relationships with their parents and their role as siblings, not all children develop an identical or similar sense of "self" as their parents. Some children may develop a slightly better sense of "self" while others develop a less sense of "self". In the field of child life, it is important to observe caregivers' levels of "self" to help identify children's possible levels of "self." By knowing a child level of "self" in addition to other factors and characteristics, medical staff such as child life specialist can better aid and help children cope with the stresses and anxiety of a hospital or new …show more content…
In other words, the term emotional cutoff refers to when a family member either physically or emotionally separated him/herself from their families to help manage unresolved emotional issues. Physical emotional contact can be achieved by moving away from their families and hardly going home. Emotional cutoff can be achieved by an individual staying in physical contact with their families but avoiding sensitive issues resulting in an emotional cutoff from their family. However, even though relationships within families may seem better when people emotionally cut themselves out, yet the unresolved issues and problems remain. Through a child life lens, it is important to look for emotional cutoffs. Emotional cutoffs may seem to fix issues and problems within families by avoiding them, however, by doing this the base issue is never resolved to lead to other problems within the family and other family members. For example, an adolescent in the hospital may emotionally cut out his/her family due to fighting between themselves and their caregivers, although to the medical staff the family seems happy without any conflict besides the diagnoses, a child life specialist may know to look for cutoff behaviors and addressed the underlying conflict/problem to help the family work through
According to Bowens family systems theory, triangles are defined as “the smallest stable relationship system” (Knauth, 2003). Triangles are when two individuals in a family (a mother and father) bring in another individual (a child) to help defuse the anxiety that is built among the first two individuals. For example, if a mother and father/husband and wife are experiencing hard times and added stress/pressure on their relationship, the mother may become closer and begin to depend more on a child to help relieve the new stress and anxiety he/she is experiencing. In the world of child life, triangle may be both a good and bad thing. Triangles may be useful when a parent is sick and the other parent brings a child …show more content…
In other words, throughout generations, children respond to how their parents react and cope with stress and anxiety. Children observe their parents’ behaviors such as their mood, attitudes, and actions. By observing and learning from their parents, children often develop a level of “self” similar to that of their parents. However, it can be said that based on children's relationships with their parents and their role as siblings, not all children develop an identical or similar sense of "self" as their parents. Some children may develop a slightly better sense of "self" while others develop a less sense of "self". In the field of child life, it is important to observe caregivers' levels of "self" to help identify children's possible levels of "self." By knowing a child level of "self" in addition to other factors and characteristics, medical staff such as child life specialist can better aid and help children cope with the stresses and anxiety of a hospital or new …show more content…
In other words, the term emotional cutoff refers to when a family member either physically or emotionally separated him/herself from their families to help manage unresolved emotional issues. Physical emotional contact can be achieved by moving away from their families and hardly going home. Emotional cutoff can be achieved by an individual staying in physical contact with their families but avoiding sensitive issues resulting in an emotional cutoff from their family. However, even though relationships within families may seem better when people emotionally cut themselves out, yet the unresolved issues and problems remain. Through a child life lens, it is important to look for emotional cutoffs. Emotional cutoffs may seem to fix issues and problems within families by avoiding them, however, by doing this the base issue is never resolved to lead to other problems within the family and other family members. For example, an adolescent in the hospital may emotionally cut out his/her family due to fighting between themselves and their caregivers, although to the medical staff the family seems happy without any conflict besides the diagnoses, a child life specialist may know to look for cutoff behaviors and addressed the underlying conflict/problem to help the family work through