If you don’t know what a genogram is, that’s OK. I didn’t either before 9:30 this morning. Basically, a genogram is a more complicated family tree that emphasizes relational aspects of familial connections as opposed to just names and dates. We discussed it in my Family Communications class and our homework for the next few weeks is, unsurprisingly, to construct one of our own.
At first, I thought it would be pretty easy. I mean, how complicated could a family tree really be with just a few added elements? The answer is pretty complicated. We took a look at our professor’s genogram and it very quickly took up the entire white board. It’s a tricky assignment and one that will absolutely require more than a few hours of my time. He begged us to not wait until the last minute and I definitely don’t plan to. My family has an account with ancestry, so I’ll be contacting my parents to get access to that. It’s going to be a lot of fun researching my family history because there’s plenty I don’t know. I thoroughly enjoy hands on activities like these. My professor also mentioned that while it’s going to be the most labor-intensive part of our class, it’s also going to be the most rewarding.
I love that we don’t just sit around and learn theories all day. We actually apply them to ourselves and our relationships. We’ve spent the last four weeks learning about familial structure and dynamics, and now we finally get the chance to use that knowledge. I’m going to call my parents sometime soon and get the ball rolling on this!