The Family Life Cycle has five stages: independence, mating, parenting, empty nest, and retirement. Each stage teaches different life skills, such as developing close relationships and considering the needs of the entire family. The retirement stage focuses on enjoying life after work and combining all the skills and knowledge learned.
The Family Life Cycle is made up of five different stages that most people go through between infancy and old age, each teaching a separate set of life skills. The independence stage occurs when a child leaves his or her family of origin to begin adult life. When he decides to partner with another adult and start a family, he enters the mating stage and then the parenting stage. When these children leave the family home, entering their independent phase, the adults continue through the last two phases of the family life cycle: empty nest and retirement.
As a child begins to support himself emotionally and physically, he enters the stage of independence. At this point in life, a person typically begins to discover different parts of themselves outside of how they were raised and begins to learn how to develop close, healthy relationships outside of the family. Once a person begins supporting himself, his work ethic is typically developed.
When a person decides to merge his life with another, he enters the mating stage of the family life cycle. Developing another family unit, outside of one’s family of origin, typically teaches each person in a relationship how to work closely with one another and helps develop the ability to care for others before focusing solely on the own personal needs. Learning these skills tends to prepare a person for the next stages of the family life cycle.
Large portions of couples decide to raise children, placing both parties in the parenting stage. This lasts from the time a couple gives birth or adopts a child until these children enter their stage of independence. Parenting both young children and adolescents both gives each individual the opportunity to learn new life skills, such as how to consider the needs of the entire family rather than just the individual and their partner. This phase also tends to reconnect an individual with his or her family of origin, developing a new extended family dynamic.
Once the babies leave on their own, an individual enters the empty nest stage. At this juncture in family lifestyle, an individual usually focuses on their career and learning to adjust to their family life without children. It is also common for an individual to reconnect with their family of origin, as the older generation of a family usually requires help with day-to-day life. During the empty nest stage of the family life cycle, it is also common to learn how to develop a relationship with nurtured people.
The final stage of the family life cycle is the retirement stage. At this point, most people focus heavily on enjoying or adjusting to life after work and are often dealing with potential or existing health issues. During the retirement stage, it is also common for people to look back on past stages and combine all the skills and knowledge they learned.
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