In the paper, CLSY500, I have chosen to talk about families
and communities as my conceptual theme for the second reflective writing task.
According to Cribb (2009), there are four core domains all
involving families and what role they play. Firstly, the protection of children
including nurturing and rearing. Secondly, providing families with emotional
support to improve and maintain their wellbeing. The third core domain involves
children relying on the support of their parents for companionship, affection
and identity and the sense of belonging. Lastly, the fourth core domain is
preserving knowledge, values, culture, attitudes, property and obligations to
pass on from one generation to the next. All four of these core foundations are
essential for the development of families. I personally feel that in order to
constantly maintain a positive environment for children this can be especially
difficult if one of the core foundations cannot operate. In this case, the
first and second core domain. Parents that include the characteristics of working
long hours, lacking time management and intense workloads (Skinner & Ichii,
2015), will have difficulty prioritizing the needs of their children at a very
young age and therefore may have to deal with their pent up emotional distress,
including showing signs of alienation commonly due to the fact that their
parents had not made them feel loved enough. As there was a lack of
companionship and affection from the parents, the child feels distant and may
likely not communicate their thoughts to them. This shows why companionship is
so important in families that have children. In particular, I also find that
the last core foundation is an important point to me as I find myself finding
it difficult to display interest in my parent’s roots such as their culture,
personal knowledge and values. However, this may be, I have acknowledged why it
is highly recommended that I involve myself in my parent’s roots as the future
generation may never be able to preserve our culture.
This semester, I also learnt that to lead a stable life as a
family, one or both parents must have an income in order to provide basic
housing to combat personal demands such as good hygiene, a bed and food and
water. Unfortunately, while housing is a basic human right, many social issues
have surfaced because the demand of this human right has increased over the years
and will continue to do so. This is quickly becoming a rising issue
particularly, for residents living in Auckland. As a result of the demand of
housing, overcrowding has found its way to the urban areas and thus the city has
become a haven for the growing number of homeless people. There has also been a
change in culture and values and such changes are multiculturalism, urbanization
and the introduction of new technology. Urbanization occurred because of the
demand for more facilities and the population growth became dense. New
technology has also made it more convenient for people that are looking for
houses such as by browsing listings found on Trademe. As the population grew, more
cultures from around the world also wanted to settle into New Zealand as a
result of successful promotion of the country from tourism campaigns such as ‘100%
Pure New Zealand’. Similarly, these changes and issues are also present in
other countries. In many cases, there are many Asian communities dispersed
throughout developed cities.
I certainly think that the crisis issue in New Zealand has became
more difficult to deal with as the years passed. Compared to two to three years
ago, the value of houses has almost tripled in price. Previously, I was not
aware of how the demand for rooms have also increased because currently the
cost for a room can be anywhere from $200 up to $360. As I was growing up, I
had heard of how in New Zealand and Australia it is the norm to move out at a
very young age such as 16 and develop independence as they spend more and more
time either flatting with others or living by themselves. I cannot fathom how
different it must be to flat with others or shift my lifestyle outside of my
family as all my life, from childhood to now, I have been living with my
parents. Although this may be, I learnt that others are not as fortunate as I
am. I have learnt of how adolescents have been forced to move out around the
age of 16 as there was too much conflict. The reasons for the conflict may be
from the influences of their peers to steal or take drugs which develop into
addictions if not treated as early as possible. I certainly cannot relate to
these addictions however, I do have family members that cannot heal from the
need to steal and still abuse themselves with large doses of drugs in order to
feel better. Problems can start to escalate if the adolescent starts to develop
mental issues and this can take a toll on their education. One behavior I have
witnessed was one of my family members constantly making himself getting kicked
out of all the institutions he was being enrolled in which is why he became
blacklisted from any future schooling institutions. What I find incredibly sad is that I know they
have potential to change but as New Zealand has become increasingly difficult
to live in and finding a decent job that does not require many experience and
skills, they have struggled.
To combat these problems, in Auckland, especially on the
North Shore there are surprisingly many programmes offered that can count toward
NCEA. These programmes may include culinary courses and education. It is also
useful that there are tutors that can teach from a wide range of subjects such
as Science, Mathematics and English in preparation for NCEA assessments or
exams. In doing so, these tutors are also providing an income for themselves as
they know that the demand for tutoring is quite high. Previously, I also
mentioned the issue of homelessness and thankfully, though it should be improved
even more than it is now, the government does lend a certain degree of support
to those that are homeless and there are soup kitchens that provide food and
shelter.
To relate this to my field of study, Japanese, I have found that
housing too is incredibly sought after. The population density in urban areas
of Japan are more higher than New Zealand but there is less support from the
Government to improve this. I have also learnt that in many Asian countries
such as China and Hong Kong especially, residents are continuing to live in
worse environments and that there is no support from the Government at all.
References:
Cribb, J. (2009). FOCUS ON
FAMILIES: NEW ZEALAND FAMILIES OF YESTERDAY, TODAY
AND TOMORROW. Social
Policy Journal Of New Zealand, (35), 4-16.
Skinner, N., & Ichii, R.
(2015). Exploring a family, work, and community model of work–family gains and
strains. Community,
Work & Family, 18(1), 79-99. doi:10.1080/13668803.2014.
