Carlena Lowell

SEI 501 Family Focused Interview

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Family Focused Interview
Carlena Lowell
August 23, 2012













Carlena Lowell
SEI 501 Family Focused Interview

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Family Focused Interview
Introduction
This family focused interview was conducted with the Jones family by Carlena Lowell on
August 7, 2012. The family consists of Claire (mother), Oliver (father), Delia (daughter),
Carter (son), and dog Summer. Carter turned three-years-old just this month, and Delia
is seven-years old and will be entering the second grade this school year. Delia and
Carter are both typically developing children. The Jones live in an old farm house on
twelve acres of land, with neighbors who live close by but are not visible from their yard.
Claire is a stay-at-home mom, and Oliver owns his own heating and plumbing business.
*Names have been changed to ensure confidentiality of the family.
Theme 1: Routine Changes Throughout the Year
Delia has been in school for four years: two years of preschool in a Montessori program
and two years of public school. The first year, when she was three-years-old, she
attended preschool part-time, and the second year, full-time. Carter has not yet
attended a formal child care setting. During the past few school years, the family has
had a very consistent schedule; however, this schedule changes a bit with the arrival of
summer and the continuous development of the children. Several aspects of the
familys routine that change in the summer are: sleep patterns, breakfast and lunch
times, and activities done during the day. Several aspects of the familys routine that
remain the same are: dinnertime, bedtime routine, the siblings relationship and outside
resources (the latter two to be discussed in following themes).
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During the school year, the childrens bedtime is between 7:00 and 7:30 pm, as wake
up time is no later than 6:30 am every weekday. During the summer their bedtime shifts
to between 8:00 and 8:30, as they do not have to wake up on such a rigid schedule.
Throughout the summer, both children generally wake up by going into their parents
bedroom around 7:00 am.
Currently, Carter is transitioning out of taking naps. He has always taken about a three
hour nap in the afternoon; however, this summer on the days he does take a nap he is
not falling asleep at night until 9-9:30. Claire and Oliver are interpreting this as an
indicator that Carter now needs less of, if any nap at all. This is a typical age in which
children begin to not need naps. According to Hooper and Umansky (2009), children
from 2 to 5 years of age, may sleep 11 to 13 hours per 24-hour day, may not need
afternoon nap (p. 181). One concern with Carter not napping is usually around 4 pm
he becomes very tired, which sometimes leads to him doing destructive things to get
attention. To offset these behaviors, he and Delia have down time to relax before
dinner with activities such as reading or drawing, or watching one PBS childrens show.
The bedtime routine of each parent reading one child several books, or at this point
Delia reading books to Claire or Oliver, remains the same throughout the year. They
switch off, but Delia often likes to read with Oliver, which is usually okay with Carter as
he often likes to read with Claire. This is an example of the wonderful relationship
between the parents and the children in this family. Trawick-Smith (2010) states that
[Fathers] involvement in the lives of their children at age 7 has been found to predict
their sons and daughters mental health and social competence at age 33! (p. 469).
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Usually, both Claire and Oliver are home for bedtime, and they read to Delia and Carter
in separate rooms, but if only one parent is home, they will all read together.
Throughout the school year, Claire drives Delia to school as the bus ride is almost an
hour long, and because of this, she is able to be home for an extra 45 minutes in the
morning. However, breakfast and getting ready for the day still need to be done in a
timely fashion on weekday mornings. Breakfast and lunch tend to be a little more
relaxed in the summer for the Jones. Their summer schedule allows for them to take
more time for and have a more relaxed breakfast. For lunch in the summer, Claire will
often bring a picnic-style lunch with things such as hummus and crackers, fruits and
veggies, outside at their house (or wherever they may be, the beach, the playground,
etc.) and allow Delia and Carter to eat when they feel hungry throughout their play.
Dinner is the meal that remains relatively the same year round. Dinner at the Jones is
eaten all together at the table no matter what time of year it is. This is a highly valued
routine for the whole family. In the summer, Claire will often cook a meal for her and
Oliver, and one for Delia and Carter as time permits her to do so; however, during the
busy school year, Delia and Carter will eat the same meal as Claire and Oliver, and if
they do well eating dinner all week, they get to pick the weekend meals. Claire is
conscious of making meals she knows they will eat, but may not prefer. A dinnertime
rule for Delia is that she must try whatever vegetable they are having, but if she does
not like it, she does not have to eat it.


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Theme 2: Goals for Carter
Since birth, Carter has stayed home with Claire. The only exception was last year when
Claire volunteered at a local school three mornings a week for a few hours each. Carter
stayed with family members for those mornings. Claire and Oliver have put thought into
Carters early childhood education and have developed a tentative plan for it. Carter
has a younger cousin who attends a home based day care a few towns over in Claires
home town, and Claire knows the teacher. They would like to start Carter there this
coming school year as he is three now. For this upcoming year, Carters attendance will
be on a very part time basis in order to get him used to being around multiple same-
aged peers, as well as being away from Claire. Claire and Oliver understand the
importance of expanding Carters socialization as it is a childs range of experiences
from which he develops his personality and learns appropriate behaviors, (Hooper and
Umansky, 2009, p. 350). From Claire and Olivers perspective, the key to this definition
is the word range. The goal is to have him in this setting for one to two mornings a
week for about three hours each. Claire and Oliver would also like to get him into a
gross motor based activity with children his own age, such as gymnastics. Claire and
Oliver were delighted with Delias early childhood education at a local Montessori
program. Delia had fun while making wonderful strides developmentally, and Claire and
Oliver both agree with the Montessori philosophy. Their goal is to enroll Carter into the
same program full time in the fall of 2013.
Carter is a young three-year-old and sometimes exhibits undesired behaviors. When he
does, Claire or Oliver will remove him from the situation and try to talk to him about it. If
he is not ready to talk, he is put in time out to try to calm his body down. They wait until
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he is calm and then talk to him about the conflict. Given his age, this technique works
well for the family. Sometimes, if Claire and Oliver are discussing something Carter has
done, Carter will try to transfer the attention off himself by blaming the dog for
something unrelated: for example, Summer bit me.. This was a strategy Carter used
in the past quite often, but it is diminishing as he develops cognitively. Once in a while,
Carter will tantrum if he does not get his way, to which Claire and Oliver ignore as long
as there is no safety issue at hand. When the tantrum is through they will discuss the
conflict with Carter. Claire and Oliver recognize these behaviors present themselves
more when Carter is over tired. A challenge Claire pointed out is keeping their
parenting style consistent in settings outside the home. Claire and Oliver understand
that consistency is critical in early childhood development; however, the feeling of being
judged by other people for ignoring a tantrum is rather unpleasant. Claire and Oliver do
a wonderful job at using discussion in their discipline methods.
Theme 3: Extra-Curricular Goals for Delia
Delia enjoys a large variety of activities. She is a very sensory oriented child, she often
seeks to do things involving deep pressure, spinning, flipping and swinging. She is also
incredibly flexible. She is always pushing the limits of her gross motor abilities. Claire
and Oliver honed in on this by enrolling her in a gymnastics class last year, which she
very much enjoyed. This coming fall, they plan to enroll her in both gymnastics and
soccer. This year Delia is also going take piano and Spanish lessons. These extra-
curricular activities are something Claire, Oliver and Delia have all sat down and
discussed. Claire and Oliver understand the implications of over-scheduling; therefore,
all of these things are only once a week activities, and if it does not work for whatever
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reason, then Delia does not have to do them all. Since Claire is a stay at home mom,
she has the flexibility to work with a schedule that requires transportation and her
childrens schedule, which they are thankful for.
Theme 4: Siblings Relationship
Delia and Carter get along very well as siblings although some of their interests are
dissimilar. At home, they are great at both playing together and independently. They
enjoy playing games together, as Delia loves to play non-competitive games. They also
share a love of gross motor activities. Delia has fun dancing, singing and being silly,
and just this summer, Carter has started taking an interest in these things as well. They
are now beginning to play with toys together, as opposed to his and her toys. However,
as a three-year-old boy and a seven-year-old girl, their interests are vastly different from
one another. Delia enjoys reading, board games and drawing. Carter likes to dig in the
dirt pile with his trucks, tow things with his tricycle; he is always on some sort of digging
and dumping mission. Claire struggles with always having activities to meet both
childrens needs and interests. The children often have to compromise on what to do,
and generally, Delia gives in as she is developmentally more able to reason than Carter.
Delia tends to be a nurturer toward Carter. She encourages him to do many things
independently and is very proud of him when he accomplishes a task for the first time.
She is very good at scaffolding skills for him. In turn, Carter looks up to his older sister.
Carter tends to get sad when Delia leaves the house without him. They are together for
most of the summer, so when Delia does leave, for example to go on a camping trip
with her friend, her absence is much more pronounced to Carter. The beginning of the
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school year has proven difficult for Carter in these terms as well. Hooper and Umansky
(2009) describe the roles of siblings as teachers, caretakers, friends and playmates to
each other (p. 474). All of these roles are evident in Delia and Carters relationship.
Theme 5: Social Resources
The Jones have a wonderful network of people who support them. Both Claire and
Oliver come from large yet tight-knit families. They live in the same town as much of
Olivers family does, and Claires family lives nearby as well. They also have a lot of
friend involvement. Claire, Oliver, Delia and Carter are all very connected to extended
family and friends. Claires parents love to take Delia and Carter, sometimes together
and sometimes separately, for over nights or on special trips. She also has two
younger sisters, one of whom is married, has a one and a half year old daughter and
lives 15 minutes away. Claires youngest sister lives about an hour away but often
comes up to be with the family. They are a close family that often does day trips as a
whole.
Oliver is the youngest of five siblings. His parents live nearby and also love spending
time with Delia and Carter. All of Olivers siblings also live in the same towntwo of
whom moved back within the past year. Delia and Carter have eight cousins on Olivers
side of the family ranging in ages from 6 months to 10 years. One cousin in particular,
Sara, is Delias age, and they are wonderful friends. They participate in extra-curricular
activities together, are in the same grade at the same school, and have play dates
often. The Jones usually see most of Olivers family on a weekly basis. Claire and
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Oliver appreciate their network of family and friends as raising a family is a constant
juggling act.
Conclusion
The Jones possess many strengths as a family. Claire and Oliver complement each
other as parents, and Delia and Carter as siblings; this family is comprised of positive
relationships. Claire and Oliver encourage trust, independence and initiative (Hooper
and Umansky, 2009, p. 469) in their two children, and this is clear in both childrens
social emotional and cognitive developments. For the most part, the family follows
consistent routines that allow them all to know what to expect. Claire and Oliver have a
successful system in place to work with undesired behaviors when they arise. Claire
feels incredibly fortunate to be able to be a stay at home mother, although it does come
with challenges. She sometimes feels by the end of her day her patience has run out
as she has been the go to person for the children throughout the day while Oliver is at
work. She also is rarely willing to put herself first; her schedule revolves around the
childrens, even down to what time and how quickly she showers. Claire and Oliver
would like to be able to travel to see family in other states, which they are in hopes of
being able to do with both of the children when Carter gets a bit older. Transitioning
Carter out of nap times is proving a bit difficult, but Claire and Oliver know that there will
be an end to the transition in the hopefully not too distant future. The Jones are a
family who visibly enjoy each others company, and have positive relationships
throughout. Claire and Oliver foster a nurturing, fun environment, and this is apparent
through the childrens happiness and development. It was a pleasure to interview them!
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References
Hooper, S. R. & Umansky, W. (2009). Young children with special needs (5
th
ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person Education, Inc.
Trawick-Smith, J. (2010). Early childhood development: A multicultural perspective (5
th

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Person Education, Inc.