Chelsea Reinhardt COMM 3275 Dr.

Yvette Bueno Olson 23 April 2013 Family Genogram Before starting my genogram, I knew there would be at least two trending qualities my family possessed, but I had no idea how many patterns I would find. I also included my fiance, Patricks, family, since we are close with them also, and I wasnt expecting to find any similarities, but I found quite a few. I started with my maternal side, and mostly focused on communication patterns, although I did find a few other patterns. My grandma, mom, and aunt all got pregnant before they were twenty, as did my great grandmother (not on the genogram). I noticed that many of the negative communication patterns on my moms side were rooted in her, and in thinking about it, I realized that she perpetuates them. I also noticed that there are many distant relationships, including mine and hers, hers and her brothers, her and her moms and her sister has cut all ties with her. Additionally, I noticed a few family members, both Patricks, and mine who served in the military; I also noticed that there is a lot of divorce, mush of which belongs to my mom. Geographically, I noticed that the Smith family originated in California, and has mostly stayed there, with the exception being my mom who moved as far as she could, to Alabama. On my dads side, there are only three divorces, two of which belong to my grandmother. Communication patterns on my dads side are all positive; everyone is

close, there is harmony, and they all talk frequently. I also noticed that almost all the people on my dads side have blue eyes, and a few of them also have webbed toes, a trait shared with two members of Patricks family. A trait not shown on the genogram is the health of the Reinhardts. Everyone is active and fit, and they all like outdoorsy activities. Every year we all meet up for our family camping trip, which consists of fishing, hiking, and the like. Geographically, the Reinhardts were born and raised in New Mexico, then moved around a lot. Most of them are in Colorado now, with the exception of the Dudleys and Grandma June. My grandfather actually lives in the same neighborhood as Patricks parents. Another interesting cross-family trait is that my mom, dad, moms brother, Patricks dad and his grandfather were all in the service; all were in the Navy except my uncle and Patricks dad. I also noted higher education across the families. I was shocked at how many members have gone to college! Additionally, I noticed that there was a small repetition of middle names into younger generations on the Reinhardt side, and I noticed that all of the Reinhardts and my mom have two children. Lastly, I noticed that there were not many health problems or risks in my family, which was a huge relief. Knowing this information is beneficial to me in that I feel I have lots of knowledge about my family patterns, what I may do and what I definitely will not do; for example, I will only have two kids (hopefully), and I hope they will not be drug or alcohol addicts, but I would encourage them to be fit and active.