Somehow I made it another week! After nearly a month of sickness, I'm hoping to be on the mend. The weather is finally tolerable and we seem to be getting into the new school routine, which includes the kiddos riding the bus to Grandma's house on Fridays!
In one of my classes this week, we're discussing Family Structures and what that means to different people. For my family, we're fairly "Traditional" or a Nuclear Family, in the Western Sense. My husband and I live with our 3 children in our own home, and often visit our other extended family who live close and far away from us. Sadly, most of my family lives up in the Kansas City area so we have to plan those trips. But luckily enough, my husband's side of the family is local-which means they often help out with watching our kids if needed. Not only do they help if one of the kids' gets sick or if our babysitter can't make it, they're there! I could definitely not be finishing up my time at K-State without their help also, as they have been extremely helpful in taking the kids for an evening a week so that I can do homework without the constant chaos that is my house :) So while Kevin and I are very much active parents and have our children home with us 95% of the time, we couldn't do what we do without their help and support!
Even though this may be the 'norm' for us, there are so many other kinds of family structures. I have a good friend whose husband stays home full-time with her children and is now homeschooling as she is an Emergency Room nurse-and that works for them! Yet, I know another family who has a Grandmother living with them who is the caretaker for their children while the parents are gone working during the day. In other parts of the world, extended families live all within one home and share the responsibilities TOGETHER. Regardless of where you are in the world, the larger family network is typically part of the family structure as a whole family unit, rather than just a single family.
While I am very thankful that my in-laws are close and helpful with our kiddos, I am also blessed that we have our own place to call home. We live about 20 minutes away from them and that is close enough! It's hard to imagine living in all the same place, whether in the same home or just a few feet away from each other. Still, I'm glad that we have our figurative village to help raise these crazies!!!
*Klaire-8, Kilian-5, and Karli-3*
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