ABSTRACT
Near the close of the 20th century, Peter Vaill (l996), an organizational development specialist, predicted we would live in a future of “permanent white water” or in an ongoing complex, turbulent, environment necessitating continual, lifelong learning. He did not exaggerate. The escalating pace of change affects every aspect of life; alterations in one context compound the already significant shifts in another. Family life as we knew it is moving rapidly into history; family life in the future will challenge and confound us both as family members and as professionals. Twenty-first-century familial relationships will continue to reflect the bidirectional impact of our individual realities and the larger ecosystems, but the complexities of these interfaces will increase exponentially. We face stepping into the unknown armed with a half-century of theory, research, and practice to inform our new directions and interpretations. Our challenge is to envision, shape, and respond to another half-century of family relationships that are only barely imaginable.
