I’m working on a writing question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Part 1 – Family Interview (15 points)

Family Interview Questions (to be answered by each of 3 generations)
Grandparent
Parent
You
or
Parent
Yourself
Child
or
You
Your Child
Your Grandchild 

If it is impossible to interview two family members from different generations find
someone that you are close to that is your grandparent’s/parent’s age group and use
him or her as a substitute. This also applies to other generations if you are not in close
contact with your family, finding people of a similar age will convey the differences
between the cohort age groups (or each particular generation). There must be a
minimum of 18 years between generations! A generation is considered 20 years
and I am fudging on this a little. In order to be a separate cohort, there needs to be at
least 18 years in between. If not, the generation that is less than 18 years apart
will not count. 

You will create a form to turn in on ONE total interview document for all three
generations to answer the following questions (please do one generation at a
time beginning with the oldest generation, then middle generation then
youngest generation- you will be graded down if you turn in 3 separate
documents for this portion): 

1. What were the common family forms within your family? (i.e. was the family a
breadwinner/homemaker, single parent, divorced, remarried family etc.)

2. What would you say were the major differences in those forms if you experienced
more than one? For example, if the person went from a breadwinner/homemaker
family to a dual income family, what were some of the changes/differences that
were experienced?

Please describe how your family handled gender– was it a traditional boy/girl
expectations or something else? What did you as a male or female feel that your
place was in the family?

4. Describe the impact of any, of your race or ethnic background on your family
patterns. Did your family adapt to U.S. ways of living if they came from another
country (acculturate) or did they keep the old ways. How has this affected
intergenerational dialogue?

5. Are there any family practices, foods or traditions that represent the family’s
ethnic, racial or religious background that are commonly practiced in the
household? Please describe and compare how these may have changed from
generation to generation.

6. What was your families social class? Explain how you came to this conclusion.

What was the typical type of housing that you lived in during your childhood? (i.e.
House, condo, apartment, mobile home, farm, etc.) early adulthood? If you
raised children, what type of housing did you raise your children in? For the older
generation- has your housing been differing in your later adulthood?

8. What is your level of education? How did this effect your job, career, lifestyle or
life chances?

9. What was the courtship/dating or other process like hooking up in your generation.
In other words, how did people meet/get together to form relationships? (If you are
interviewing a child this is not an appropriate question).

10. What were you taught about sexual identities growing up? How has your view on
this changed or not changed as an adult? (again, not appropriate for a child’s
interview)

11. What was mealtime like at your house while you were growing up? With your own
children? (i.e. did you sit down and eat as a family, or eat on the run- explain what
took place at mealtimes) What were the typical meals like- what were the family
favorites and your favorite meal? Did someone prepare them or not?

Does your family have any special traditions that are still practiced today? 

13. What types of active kinship ties did you have growing up? Did your children
have?

14. Were your grandparents active in your life or your parents active in your children’s
14. lives? What was your relationship with your siblings? What was your
relationship with your parents? What was your relationship with your cousins,
aunts, uncles, etc.?

15. Was domestic violence every present in your family? If yes, what were the effects
of that? Please explain.

16. Were you ever divorced? If so how did this affect the family or living conditions? 

Part 2 – Narrative (40 points)

Option #1 Document

From the answers you got during the interviews, create a narrative using each of the
three generations to explain what family life and living was like for each generation
and how it might have impacted the following generation. The best way to do this is
essay style. Three or four paragraphs for each generation beginning with the oldest
generation working down to the youngest generation.. Pictures would be wonderful to
include. This is the main part of the assignment – taking what you learned from the
interviews and putting the information it into a narrative that explains your family
history. Please end this narrative with a comparison/contrast as to how the three
generations have changed or not changed and how you feel about the information
that you gathered.

Option #2 Power Point Slide Family Story 

In addition to turning in the filled out interview forms, you will create your family story
on power point– you can use pictures and put in a lot of the information that you got
from the interviews. You will need to do at least 3 or 4 slides for each generation– be
as creative as you can– you can get a lot of information into this method and in the
end create something you can share with your family. Please end this slide show story
with a comparison/contrast as to how the generations have changed or not changed
and how you feel about the information that you gathered. You will need to convert
to a .pdf to load it in the assignment! 

Part 3 Values You Want to Pass on to the Next Generation (10
points)
I want you to think very carefully before you do this part of the assignment. It
appears easier than it actually is, if you spend the time and effort on it that you
should. I would like you to create a list of 5 of the most important values
(things/ideas) you would want to teach or pass along to your children, or
grandchildren if that is more appropriate, whether you have them now, or will have
them in the future. These values would be things like love, honesty, faith, etc..
This will help you understand a little more of what we have been talking about as
to what you want your family of the future to value and look like.

For each of the 5 items in your Values/Vision you must have some background of
the value that would cause you to add that item to your vision. It may be from your
family background, your culture, etc.- however you absorbed it, it is there. This
process may involve some clarifying of values for yourself.

So, for each value item, I want you to write a paragraph explaining to me why it is a
value and why and how you intend to pass it along as your vision for the future of your
family.

Review the directions: 

You will turn the interview forms, the narrative document or power point slide show
and values document in three separate documents well labeled such as Interview
Forms, Narrative, and Values. Please remember to put a paragraph or two at the
end with your conclusions about your family narrative and what you learned from
doing the interviews, or a couple of slides. If you are doing written part of this
assignment excluding the forms which are separate, it should be a minimum of 6
pages, doubled spaced. If you are doing the power point slide show it should be a
minimum of 18 slides This is what the majority of points (30/60) will come from. When
you turn this assignment in you will be turning in three documents… one is the filled
out forms and the second the narrative in whichever way you have chosen, and the
third is the values portion. 

These should be attached to the assignment! Remember should to be turned in using
Microsoft Word, .pdf, rich text format .rtf, odt and .ppt (power point) I cannot open or
grade it if it is not in one of these formats.