immigration and its Affects on the Family

         This is a very interesting subject to me because i served a Spanish speaking mission in Houston Texas so i met a lot of men who had been away from there families for anywhere from 3 months to 12 years gaining money for them in America that they could send home. Many of these men loved their families but while teaching them i did notice that a lot of them had become very disconnected with their families back in central america and mexico. Some had been reunited with their families in America and even though it was a happy reunion they expressed that it was extremely difficult to live with their families again and that their kids were not as respectful or responsive to them.
          In class this week we learned more about how the family systems theory could explain why these families, even after being reunited could still be so distant. I am not going to explain the full reasoning behind the possible explanations of why this could happen but instead i am going to ask you to put yourselves in the shoes of families in these types of situations.
           What roles in the family would you assume or how would your life be different if you were a 13 year old child in mexico with two sisters and your father had been absent from the home working in america for 2 years. what if your spouse was the one who had left for america and you were left to take care of all of the children and provide for them when you didn't receive enough money from your spouse? How would it be harder to communicate with your spouse? Would talking on the phone weekly be enough to maintain a healthy relationship and the intimacy that you shared before?
            Now think after all of this time how you would act if you were reunited with your family. would it be the same? would things easily go back to the way they were, even if your family moved to america? Would it be harder?
          These are some pretty crazy questions that i had heard during my mission and in class and they got me thinking about how difficult it would be and the sacrifice that is being made by families so that they can receive the monetary support they need to survive.