Socio economic status deals with a lot and can factor into our lives more then what we think especially when talking about our families. This status can really shape how are family acts and thinks.  Some of the things involved in one’s socio economic status are income, location, education, occupation, family name, clothing, manner, appearance, and lifestyle. I have seen how this really plays a part in my life and in the lives of those that I see around me. For example, I am the youngest in my family and I have two older brothers. As I went through school teachers would recognize me as being the little brother of my two older brothers. They expected me to act in certain ways and my socio economic status was predetermined what my teachers thought of me. The other time that I saw a huge impact on a family or on just every family that lived in this area was when I visited Toxey Alabama. Toxey is on the west side of Alabama and north of Mobile. The problem with Toxey is that the education system and job opportunity is very, limited. The other problem is that just for most families to survive they need to be on some sort of fell fair. This leads the children to see that this is how life is lived and that there is nothing else left. They come to this constant struggle in the fact that they cannot go anywhere and that the family is trapped. There is no leaving because their socio economic status is so low. That even if they were to graduate high school the education that they get does not prepare them for college and they would need to get full ride scholar ships to go to college cause the families there are so poor. When in other words if we looked at a family that has success that has been well educated and has the money to send kids to college the story becomes much different and that allows them to build and grow in their socio economic status.

Now walking away from the socio economic status I am going to talk more on family rules. Recently I had a very eye opening discussion on Hispanic families coming over to America and how the family has to deal with so much change just for the chance to have a better life for the parents and the children. A Hispanic family that lives in Mexico has, in my thoughts, a great way of living life. They are close to their extended family and help each other when there is need for the family to help. The father works hard and is good at his job and brings in the money. While the mother takes care of the children, and the kids are able to look up to their parents and learn from them. They have their grandparents to help when needed and the aunts and uncles of the family are able to spend time and be there for the family. However, when the family makes the decision to send the father over to the United States they have an interesting shift in roles. When the father leaves the mother has to take up a job and the aunts and uncles take more of a role of the parents for their nieces and nephews. This brings new thoughts to the kids like why did dad leave us and brings them closer to the aunt and uncle. Things get more complicated for the family when years pass by and the family can finally join the father over in America. The kids show resentment to the father for leaving and not being there and the family has just fallen off their rhythm over the years that he has been gone. The roles fall apart and the family is no longer as functional has they use to be. This is a really short version of the problem that families can face but one can see how this could change how families work and can fall short when the roles change for long periods of time.