The Child and Its Family

Abstract

The newborn human infant enters a world filled with networks, the most immediate and important of which is the family. Soon, the infant’s network includes significant others beyond the family including friends, teachers, and eventually mates. Moreover, the first network is embedded in other networks that form larger reference groups such as a clan, social class, or religious group. Still larger networks can be imagined that are made up of geographical regions and countries or cultures. These networks are interconnected and exert influence on each other. They form the ecology of development (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). Each of these separate networks, as well as the entire system of networks, operates under general systems principles and therefore, possesses the characteristics of systems (Von Bertalanffy, 1967).

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