At home, family members may be independent of each other, especially as growing children develop individual interests. One child goes to soccer while the other goes to youth orchestra. The boundary around the family is not rigid as parents and children move in and out of the family system in order to participate in their other groups. On vacation, family members are much more aware of the family boundary. The result is often a return to family teamwork and shared activity.
Siblings settle into friendships and team up for trips to the ice machine and other adventures.
This Life Course Perspective provides for a change during the time that the family includes school-aged children. Parents shift from a role of Protector to one of Leader . This will place this page's title in your bookmark list.