Dylan John Mazziotti

SS205: Sociology, Week 07 Activity Family Activity

I find this activity extremely interested because I have had some very interesting exposure to different types of marriage and family situations. My father was widowed in 1987, when my mother died from breast cancer. Years laters, my father remarried and she had three older daughters, which was interesting for me to have older siblings, being the oldest for such a long time. That marriage didnt work out probably because they didnt communicate well. Shortly after their marriage ended, he married Debbie and has been married ever since and quite happily at that.

My personal experiences with marriage have been a rocky voyage as well. I married my first wife, a crush from high school, after running into her one day at the mall on my day off. We hit it off immediately and things progressed quickly (too quickly). She got pregnant right around the time we got married and we prepared for his arrival. Unfortunately, he was born premature and didnt make it. Shortly after, she left. Years later, I met Sarah at work (Zuka Juice) and we dated for a short time, were engaged for a year (highly recommend it) and have been married for almost 11 years.

One of the best things that I love about my marriage is at time we can be very functionalistic when we are nsync with each other. When we first worked together, we rarely spoke, because we read each other so well that we knew what he other one needed. As a father, it did not come that easily.

For my fathers marriages I was too young or out of the house to know the conflicts that he had. For myself, the conflict I have had in my current marriage is employment and money, as well as, not keeping my word. This has put unbelievable stress on our marriage and if I dont remedy things shortly will end it. On a good note, we communicate extremely well and have developed open communication with our 5 year old son, Lennon.

Being involved with so many types of marriages and families, I have to deal with many different types of labels. The most challenging for me was being a younger brother to 3 step-sisters because I had no previous experience to treat them or how to be treated.

In conclusion, the family is affected by different things social factors. In my family, we are mostly affected to my lack of work and bringing in money, due mostly to the economic downturn. My grandparents experienced this during the great depressions. The family dynamic continues to change due the growing acceptance of gay marriage and it will become interesting to see what societys norms adjust to in the future.