My Family Origin Wilfredo Perez As I think about how to approach this paper, I draw a blank. A week or so goes by and I have yet to hand in this assignment. “Why?”, I ask myself. The more I think about it the more I feel guilty or isolated. As a young child I was always the quiet one that sat down and stayed out of everyone else’s way. In my house, the adults spoke and the children were not to speak or be in the same room. The times when I did open my mouth, I was often told to shut up, that I didn’t know anything, or that I was just a kid. Time went by and I learned to keep many thoughts and feelings inside my head. Sad to say, although I lived with my family until I was about sixteen, I never really knew too much about them. It was about a year ago when I went to my family physician and I realized I didn’t know my family health history that I started to wonder. Sure enough, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart problems are common in my family. My sister, the youngest of us three siblings, knows more about our family because she was always around my mother and heard and saw more than I ever have. I looked to my sister for more information on my family and to finish this paper. I called up in her New Jersey home and she got pretty excited. The roots of my family- I’m thirty-four years old and know that I’m Puerto Rican. However, my sister gave me more detailed information. My great-grandmother came to Puerto Rico from France, where she married my great-grand father, who was half Spaniard and half native Puerto Rican. That would make my grandmother half French a quarter Puerto Rican and a quarter Spaniard. My grandmother then married my grand father who was one hundred percent Puerto Rican, making my mother three quarters Puerto Rican and a little of this and a little of that. My mother married my father who too was one hundred percent Puerto Rican. So I guess my little pinky on my foot has a bit of French in it. Strength-What my family relies on to get them through hard times- My sister jokingly replied “food stamps” to this question as we both laugh over the phone. The truth is that there is some truth behind that joke. Unfortunately, the very thing I’m trying to change in my life, seems to be my family’s modus operandi. My family deals with most of their issues with things found outside ourselves, such as shopping. As a child, waiting for my mother’s monthly check was like waiting for our birthdays to arrive. At this time of month we looked forward to food and clothes. To this day, my sister and brother are both very successful in the “world of man.” My sister spends money as if she was going to die tomorrow with the attitude that the more expensive something is, the better it must be. She constantly shows love to others through gifts, the bigger the gift the more the love. My brother doesn’t fall to far behind, taking vacation after vacation with his wife and six kids, and having recently sold his first house an.

1. My Family Origin
Wilfredo Perez
As I think about how to approach this paper, I draw a blank. A
week or so goes by and I have yet to hand in this assignment.
“Why?”, I ask myself. The more I think about it the more I feel
guilty or isolated. As a young child I was always the quiet one
that sat down and stayed out of everyone else’s way. In my
house, the adults spoke and the children were not to speak or be
in the same room. The times when I did open my mouth, I was
often told to shut up, that I didn’t know anything, or that I was
just a kid. Time went by and I learned to keep many thoughts
and feelings inside my head.
Sad to say, although I lived with my family until I was about
sixteen, I never really knew too much about them. It was about
a year ago when I went to my family physician and I realized I
didn’t know my family health history that I started to wonder.
Sure enough, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart problems are
common in my family.
My sister, the youngest of us three siblings, knows more about
our family because she was always around my mother and heard
and saw more than I ever have. I looked to my sister for more
information on my family and to finish this paper. I called up
in her New Jersey home and she got pretty excited.
The roots of my family- I’m thirty-four years old and know that
I’m Puerto Rican. However, my sister gave me more detailed
information. My great-grandmother came to Puerto Rico from

2. France, where she married my great-grand father, who was half
Spaniard and half native Puerto Rican. That would make my
grandmother half French a quarter Puerto Rican and a quarter
Spaniard. My grandmother then married my grand father who
was one hundred percent Puerto Rican, making my mother three
quarters Puerto Rican and a little of this and a little of that. My
mother married my father who too was one hundred percent
Puerto Rican. So I guess my little pinky on my foot has a bit of
French in it.
Strength-What my family relies on to get them through hard
times- My sister jokingly replied “food stamps” to this question
as we both laugh over the phone. The truth is that there is some
truth behind that joke. Unfortunately, the very thing I’m trying
to change in my life, seems to be my family’s modus operandi.
My family deals with most of their issues with things found
outside ourselves, such as shopping. As a child, waiting for my
mother’s monthly check was like waiting for our birthdays to
arrive. At this time of month we looked forward to food and
clothes.
To this day, my sister and brother are both very successful in
the “world of man.” My sister spends money as if she was going
to die tomorrow with the attitude that the more expensive
something is, the better it must be. She constantly shows love to
others through gifts, the bigger the gift the more the love. My
brother doesn’t fall to far behind, taking vacation after vacation
with his wife and six kids, and having recently sold his first
house and moved into a more affluent neighborhood. This is a
reflection of how we as kids were brought up, always trying to
keep up with the Jones’. We didn’t practice any religion at
home, and mostly used God’s name in vain. We went to church
three times a year, Christmas, Easter and maybe Thanksgiving.
Challenges- what did my family have to overcome for us to be
here- My mother never really learned to speak English. My
sister believes that my mom was teased and made fun of, and

3. that caused her to stop learning and using the English language.
One incident in particular will always stick out as a significant
challenge pertaining to language and my family.
I remember when I was in the ninth grade, my mother was
called in to school for my behavior (again). The principle kept
asking my mother questions, and my mother either answered
“yes” or “no.” Finally, the principle looked at the security
guard who was in the office with us and stated, “they come over
here, and refuse to learn our language, but if I say Goya or
Budweiser, they understand that.” I quickly jumped up and
looked at my mother. I told her to sign the papers on the
principal’s desk giving them permission to transfer me to
another school. I wanted out right away
My mother calmly looked at me and refused to sign. Later that
evening at home, I over heard my mother talk to a friend of
hers, and explaining what had happened. It broke my heart. I
thought that my mother was calm because she did not
understand, but she did understand every word the man said.
She did what she felt she had to do so I could stay in a good
school. This was only a small fraction of the racism and
discrimination that my family had to go through in order for us
to have what we have now, knowledge and freedom of choice.
Legacy-what is a family story that has survived through
generations-My sister was kind of surprised that I couldn’t think
of a family story that has been passed down. As I stated before,
though, I was out of everyone’s way and to myself for most of
my upbringing. My sister told me that my mother always told
one story in particular about my grandmother who used to
whistle when she snored. Although I don’t remember, my sister
says that at holidays or birthday parties my mom would always
tell this story.
One day my grandmother was laying on the sofa and fell asleep
with her balcony doors wide open. She lived on the second

4. floor of a building. There were a bunch of guys hanging out
outside of the building, and they heard what appeared to be a
whistle. The guys heard this over and over and they actually
thought someone was flirting with them and playing around
with their heads. Finally, one guy got up the nerve to climb the
balcony to see who was whistling. To my grandmother’s
surprise she awoke to a young man climbing inside her balcony.
She started to scream and the young man got scared and started
to scream too. It turns out that she apparently knew the young
man and after they stopped screaming, they both started to
laugh. I’m not sure why this story is funny nor why it is told
over and over again. If you ask me they should stop telling it.
My poor grandmother probably turns over in her grave every
time it’s told.
Thirty-four years after my birth, I sit and wonder about my
family. For many years I tried to avoid them, but I can’t they
are a part of me whether I like it or not. In some shape or form,
the way I was shaped and formed helps me to help other people.
I see isolation in the people I try to talk to. I see loneliness
and I see myself as a child when I hear someone tell their story.
Although my family depended on things outside of themselves
to cope with life, there is always love present. Love in the way
two different ethnicities came together. Love in the struggles
that my family had to go through in order for me and my brother
and sisters to be successful in life. Love behind the corny
stories that are told time after time at the dinner table. It is
through the love of my family, that I can extend my love to
another individual so they too can feel love and overcome
whatever it is that they need to over come. Whatever the core of
the issue, love must be the practice, and I thank my family for
practicing love with me.
COUN 502
Developmental Analysis Instructions

5. The purpose of this paper is for you to demonstrate your ability
to apply a working knowledge of the theories, terminology, and
concepts of Human Growth and Development. You will discuss
your own development over your lifetime and how it relates to
the developmental concepts discussed throughout the semester.
You are to analyze your life as it relates to the keys aspects of
human growth and development. What are key developmental
times in your life and the influencing factors that led to who
you are today?
You are to incorporate your empirical studies related to your
chosen developmental aspect of your life. Also, use the
readings, videos, or presentations you viewed to support what
you propose about your own development in your paper.
Depending on your life and the influences, there may be more
attention placed during one period of time. Remember to
include your spiritual development supported by the readings
from The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and
Adolescences. You are encouraged to glean information from
your mother about her pregnancy with you to see if there were
any notable issues during that time.
In addition, obtain as much information as you can about any
significant events in your early childhood years. How did you
do in those key developmental years? Did you approach all
developmental milestones with ease, or were there challenges?
Since this is a comprehensive paper, you will address your
development across your lifespan.
Finally, you will conclude your paper with addressing any
current lifestyle behaviors that may influence your aging
process. You are to address these issues, how they will affect
your aging process, and then address what you plan to do about
it.
The body of the paper is to be 8–10 pages (excluding Title
Page, Abstract, and References). Five points will be deducted
for every page the assignment is short. If the assignment is 7
pages, 5 points will be deducted, 6 pages 10 points deducted, 5
pages 15 points deducted, and so on.

6. This assignment is to be completed adhering strictly to current
APA format. Points will be lost for poor citation use and poor
use of empirical knowledge to support the author’s thoughts
(you will not have an “A” paper without proper APA format,
and without proper citations you will not have a “B” paper.).
You must include at least 8–10 relevant sources in your paper
(among them at least 7 empirical articles) that were written no
earlier than 2005, unless that citation is linked to an author
whose work is seminal to your topic.
This assignment is to be submitted through SafeAssign by 11:59
p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 7.