Family Assessment of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Velbis
Jericho
Meet the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Family
Created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in 1984, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are four turtles named after Italian Renaissance artists: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. The origin of their transformation started as an incident where radioactive ooze called mutagen exposed four turtles in the sewers of New York City. A rat named Master Splinter saved the turtles covered in the glowing ooze. The exposure led to excessive growth resembling a humanoid figure and acquiring human features, thus the species is a half-turtle and half-human mutant. Master Splinter adopts the four turtles and teaches them the art of ninjutsu to protect themselves from evil in New York City.
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Master Splinter is the adoptive father and sensei of four ninja turtles. Each of the ninja turtles are unique in their personality. Leonard is the leader. Raphael is the toughest. Donatello is the smartest. Michelangelo is the cowabunga jokester. Together the teenage mutant ninja turtles learn from the guidance of Master Splinter to fight evil especially against their nemesis Shredder.
50-years-old
Generativity vs Stagnation
Master Splinter is the pet rat under the martial artist Master Hamato Yoshi who he mimicked, learned, and trained ninjutsu. His Master was killed by his arch nemesis Shredder who is the leader of a criminal organization known as the Foot Clan. Eventually, Splinter escapes and lives in the sewers of New York City. During an incident, Splinter saved four turtles who were exposed by radiation. Master Splinter is the adoptive father of four turtles and teaches them ninjutsu.
16-years-old Identity vs. Confusion
Leonardo is the blue bandana ninja turtle who specializes in twin katanas. He is the oldest of the four brothers and is considered as the leader. He has a strong sense of honor, ethics, spirituality, and patience.
15-years-old Identity vs. Confusion
Raphael is the red bandana ninja turtle who specializes in twin sais. He is known as the strongest and toughest of the four brothers. He can be impulsive, hot tempered, and aggressive.
15-years-old Identity vs. Confusion 14-years-old Identity vs. Confusion
Michelangelo is the orange bandana ninja turtle who specializes in nunchunks. He is the youngest of the four brothers and is considered the most immature. He is known to joke around and have fun than to be discipline into training.
Donatello is the purple bandana ninja turtle who specializes in a long staff. He is known as the smartest and most technical of the four brothers. He is very booksmart, technology savvy, and have a natural aptitude for science.
Raphael struggles with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) as a result of the cycles of aggression, anger, and defiance. He is easily provoked into anger which causes him to lose his temper and ultimately lose control. Temperamental factors such as irritability, impulsivity, poor frustration, tolerance, and high levels of emotional reactivity are commonly associated with ODD (Aggarwal et al., 2022). This increases the risk of negative consequences such as physical aggression, irresponsible choices, and reckless behavior. Raphael displayed many signs and symptoms of ODD such as constantly fighting with Leonardo on decisions, Master Splinter having to guide Raphael on clearing his mind during times of anger-clouded judgment, and when Raphael wore his archnemesis Shredder’s armor, he embodied his enemies rage and anger to fight the whole New York Mob and dominate the Foot clan.
The culture of the teenage mutant ninja turtles follows a combination of artistry, creativity, and ninjutsu. Master Splinter raised the ninja turtles with a Japanese martial arts culture. Living in the sewers of New York City, these New Yorker ninja turtles love to eat pizza! As mutants, the family understands that the world may not be accepting of who they are and their appearance. In the elements of danger, these ninja turtles are heroes in a half-shell as they fight crime and save others from villains.
The teenage mutant ninja turtles are considered a nontraditional family. According to Duvall’s Family Developmental and Life Cycle Theory, family changes occur in stages during which there is upheaval while adjustments are being made (Kaakinen et al., 2015). In the eight stages of family development, the TMNT family is within Stage 5: Families with adolescents. Each of the ninja turtles are finding their own identity and discovering their destiny. Every day each ninja turtle are working to get better for when the time comes, they will be ready.
The teenage mutant ninja turtle’s family follows a Buddhism religion. This stems from Master Splinter adopting the principles of his Master Yoshi when they were in Japan. Master Splinter and the ninja turtles would meditate and practice Zen.
As a family, communication can be depicted as Master Splinter as the father figure speaking to his four teenagers. Master Splinter also communicates as the boy’s sensei teaching about discipline, tranquility, and martial arts. The teenage mutant ninja turtle’s communication expresses their personality. Leonardo communicates as the voice of reason. Raphael communicates as the voice of intensity. Donatello communicates as the voice of ingenious intelligence. Michelangelo communicates with wit and humor.
Symbolically, Master Splinter is a rat that represents his industrious and hardworking traits. He speaks to his sons who are turtles spreading wisdom such as patience, protection, and longevity. After many battles together, the ninja turtles have a brotherly bond of trust that communicates their teamwork. Leonardo communicates with noble leadership. Raphael communicates with action. Donatello communicates with innovative craft. Michelangelo communicates with free-spirit.
• The ninja turtle’s family have a strong respect, bond, and love for one another.
• They are brothers-in-arms and protect each other during battle.
• Leonardo’s strengths are being a skillful fighter, spirituality, and leadership.
• Raphael’s strengths are being the strongest fighter, streets smarts, and aggression.
• Donatello’s strengths are being an intelligent fighter, book smarts, and technologically equipped.
• Michelangelo’s strengths are being a naturally talented fighter, wits, and fun-loving personality.
• With each ninja turtle’s strength helps each of their own challenges.
• While each teenage mutant ninja turtle is from the same origin, they are uniquely different and have their own personal challenges.
• Leonardo’s challenges are his overwhelmingly pressure and responsibility as the leader.
• Raphael’s challenges are his anger temperament, hottemper, and being reckless.
• Donatello’s challenges are his lack of ninja skills due to relying on gadgets over combat.
• Michelangelo’s challenges are his immaturity that leads to lack of training and preparation.
• The arch-nemesis Shredder seeks vengeance on Splinter and wants to use the foot clan to take over New York City.
Family Systems Theory
The Family Systems Theory focus on family interactions between each member and the impact on the health, behavioral responses, and reactions of each family individual (Kaakinen et al., 2015).
The theory is composed of four parts:
1. All parts of the system are interconnected. Master Splinter and the teenage mutant ninja turtles are interconnected from the incident of mutagen. When Raphael’s condition of ODD is uncontrolled, each ninja turtle has to take into account his actions on top of the challenges they face. Raphael’s rage may affect each member and disrupt the flow of their teamwork.
2. The whole is more than the sum of the parts. When the teenage mutant ninja turtles are together, they bring their skills, spirits, and dominant personality traits. They understand that each ninja turtle wields their own unique weapon and teamwork is essential. They help each other, draw from one another, and brings the true force that binds them.
3. All systems have some form of boundaries or borders between the system and its environment.
The teenage mutant ninja turtles are mutants living within the human species in the sewers of New York City. At times they have to remain hidden in the shadows because of their humanoid figure. The ninja turtle family has made human alliances such as April O’Neil who is a news reporter and Casey Jones who is a vigilante.
4. Systems can be further organized into subsystems. The teenage mutant ninja turtle family can be divided into the way of martial arts: Master Splinter and his four pupils.
Bioecological Systems Theory
Microsystems: Master Splinter and the four teenage mutant ninja turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo) living in the sewers of New York City. Mesosystems: The teenage mutant ninja turtle family have human alliances with April O’Neil and Casey Jones.
Exosystems: Leonardo is influenced by spirituality. Raphael is influenced by adrenaline. Donatello is influenced by technology. Michelangelo is influenced by pop culture.
Macrosystems: American culture including location, food, music, movies, cars, sports, entertainment, religion, and values.
Chronosystems: Master Splinter sensei and parenting guidance passes down to his four sons. When the students becomes the masters.
Nursing Interventions & Outcomes
NANDA: Ineffective family health management related to complex family dynamics.
Problems Interventions w/ Rationales Outcomes
Stressful single parenthood to four teenagers.
Develop rules, boundaries, and create own level of self-care.
Rationale: Encouraging parent participation in positive-parenting programs can decrease the conflict for parents and teens (Ackley et al., 2022).
Raphael’s rage may lead to arguments, physical fights, impulsivity, and clouded judgement.
Encourage healthy positive coping methods.
Rationale: Perceived bonding through social support yields positive effects on caregivers’ problem-focused coping strategies (Ackley et al., 2022).
Master Splinter is able to have time to meditate in peace while opening the door for his sons
Raphael is able to begin channeling his anger to strength when faced against his enemies.
Unhealthy nutrition and unsanitary living environment.
Support healthy living habits with proper diet, adequate sleep, exercise, and spiritual pursuits.
Rationale: Healthy relationships and building strong support system helps adopt healthy lifestyle habits (Ackley et al., 2022).
The teenage mutant ninja turtles are involved in many activities such as ninjutsu martial arts, meditation and sports. They incorporated a variety of toppings towards their favorite food. They have a cleaner living situation.
Ackley, B. J., Ladwig, G. B., Makic, M. B. F., Martinez-Kratz, M. R., & Zanotti, M. (2022). Nursing diagnosis handbook: An evidence based guide to planning care.
AggarwalA, Marwaha R. Oppositional Defiant Disorder. [Updated 2022 Sep 19]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-.Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557443/
Kaakinen, J. R., Coehlo, D. P., Steele, R., Tabacco,A., & Hanson, S. M. H. (Eds.). (2015). Family health care nursing: Theory, practice, and research (5th edition). F.A. Davis Company.
Tmntpedia. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2022, from https://turtlepedia.fandom.com/wiki/Main_Page
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