Family Structure
Family is said to be the smallest unit in the society. During the onset of the industrial age, family has been identified as a heterosexual couple with their children, commonly dwelling in a particular home where the tasks are divided according to gender. Normally, in this definition of the family, the woman stays at home to take care of the children while the man works outside home to earn money for the benefit of the whole family (Hare & Gray, 2008). There are many forms of family present in the society today.
One of the most prevalent among the family structures is the nuclear family or conjugal family. In this type of family, both adult male and female are the parents of the children, may it be biological or adoptive. Because this form of family is made up of only the father, mother, and child or children, such structure is more likely to be compact (Hare & Gray, 2008). Growing up in a nuclear family allowed me to have a stable environment wherein the relationship and emotional bonding is strong.
Unlike the extended family which consists of the mother, father, children, and other people such as grandparents or aunts and uncles living together, the role of the mother and father are sometimes played by the grandparents during their absence (“Extended Family,” 2008). Being in nuclear family provided me with a view of things which are acceptable or not. When both the parents are the ones who nurture the children, the kind of behavior that they think are right is properly instilled in a way that no other people can provide.
Likewise, there is a sense of consistency wherein the feeling of being a part of a whole is present, and the closeness with other members of the family is practiced because parents are able to rear children with the idea that one should have a strong relationship with other family members (Putatunda, 2008). Compared to the family headed by a single parent, growing up in a traditional nuclear family allows children to have a sense of security and proper learning skills.
Since the single-parent family lacks one parent at home, the responsibility of raising the children is assigned to either the mother or father. Thus, some responsibilities such as training life skills are disregarded. In the case of nuclear family, children are taught properly in dealing with not only the household chores but also the ideas in the real world. Moreover, in most cases of single-parent family, the parent would have to work outside the home.
As such, the emotional needs of children are sometimes not met. Oftentimes, the older sibling is the one who takes care of the younger siblings, unlike in the nuclear family where children get more physical and emotional support, and the responsibilities are shared by the whole members (Putatunda, 2008). Evidently, the traditional nuclear family is the most ideal among the family structures. However, not all families are endowed with such type of structure.
Although the children could feel security and become well-adjust in other forms of family structures (Hare & Gray, 2008), it is important to note that difficulties within the family still exist even in nuclear families. Yet, the complications that may be experienced by the children and the parent could only be resolved if there is an open discussion of issues, and children who are living in a different form of family structure should be well-introduced to the type of family they are being brought up to so that they will not feel self-conscious and deprived.
References Extended family ties. (2008). Family Ties. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from http://www. edu. pe. ca/southernkings/familyextended. htm. Hare, J. & Gray, L. (2008). All kinds of families: A guide for parents. Cyfernet. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from http://www. cyfernet. org/parent/nontradfam. html. Putatunda, R. (13 January 2008). Advantages of the traditional nuclear family. Buzzle. Retrieved October 8, 2008 from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/advantages-of-the-traditional-nuclear-family. html.
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