1. Family Life Cycle

2. Beginning Family Newlyweds Establishing Home
Building Marriage Relationship

3. Child-bearing Family
Couple prepares for and adjusts to parenthood

4. Parenting Family Children are growing
Parents work to meet children’s changing needs and help them develop independence

5. Launching Family Children gradually leave home to support themselves
Parents help children adapt to life on their own

6. Mid-Years Family Couple renews their relationship
Prepares for retirement
Sometimes called the “empty-nest” stage

7. Aging Family Over 65 Stops full time work Retired
Adjusts to having more free time

8. Variations in the Life Cycle
Individuals who decide not to marry
Individuals whose die or leave spouses
Couples choose not to, or find out they are unable to have children

9. Variations in the Life Cycle
Families skip, overlap, or repeat stages – this creates new sequences
Families have additional children several years after their first group of children
Second marriages – families blend, stages are repeated
Families create extended families by bringing aging relatives into their home.