Ellis, age 36, and Martine, age 32, have been married for 14 years and have two daughters. Ellis works full time while Martine works part time so she can be more available to their daughters, ages 11 and 9. The family lives near Ellis’s extended family, and both Martine and Ellis acknowledge they depend on Ellis’s parents in some ways, especially for child care, whether in emergency situations or to allow the couple to get away. Ellis’s parents have also provided financial assistance. Martine and Ellis are glad to see their girls forming a good relationship with their grandparents and appreciate the love, nurturing, and counsel provided to the girls. However, the grandparents are sometimes more than a bit overbearing from Martine’s point of view. They purchase expensive gifts for the girls without consulting Ellis and Martine and subvert Ellis and Martine’s family rules by letting the girls watch TV shows and movies and play computer games that are not permitted at home. Even Ellis, who is quite laid back in his approach to family disagreements, is becoming increasingly frustrated, but he also thinks that Martine is too tough on his parents, who have always been far more supportive of the couple and their children than Martine’s parents, who are at best quite distant but more often relentlessly critical.
1. Create a genogram for the extended family.
2. Select two techniques discussed in your text and illustrate how you would use them with the couple.
3. Reconsider the techniques you selected for use with this family. Via what mechanisms would you expect them to be effective and why?
