Family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

What is family?

"Families don't have to match. You don't have to look like someone else to love them" 

Family is defined as a specific group of people that may be made up of partners, children, parents, aunt's, uncle's, cousins and grandparents. An example of a family is a set of parents living with their children. Family is defined as a domestic  group of people with some degree of kinship- whether through blood, marriage or adoption.

There are 6 types of families that consists of:

• Nuclear family: The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure. The family consists of two parents and children, The nuclear family was long held in esteem by society as being the ideal in which to raise children. 

• Single parent family: The single parent family consists of one parent raising one or more children on his own. This family include a single mother with her children,  a single dad with his kids. The single parent  family is the biggest change society has been in terms of the changes in family structures. One in four children is born to a single mother. Single parent families are generally close and find ways to work together to solve problems, such as dividing up household chores. When only one parent is at home, it may be a struggle to find childcare services as there is only one parent working. This limits income and opportunities in nanny cases, although many single parent families have support from relatives and friends.

Single father with his  children 

Single mother with her children 

• Extended family: The extended family structure consists of two or more adults who are related either by blood or marriage, living in the same home. The family includes many relatives living together and working towards common goals, such as raising the children and keeping up with the household duties. Many extended families include cousins, aunts or uncles and grandparents. This type of family may from due to financial difficulties or because older relatives are unable to care for themselves alone.

• Childless family: While most people think of family as including children, there are couple's who either cannot or choose not to have children. Childless family consists of two partners living and working together.

•  Step family: Over half of marriages end in divorce, and many of these individuals choose to get remarried. This creates the step or blended  family which invloves two separate families merging into one new unit. It  consist of a new husband, wife, or  spouses and their children from previous marriages or relationships. 

•   Grandparent family: Many grandparents today are raising their grandchildren for a variety of reasons. One in fourteen children is raised by his grandparents and the parents are not present in the child's life. This could be due to parent's death, addiction, abandonment or being unfit parents. Many grandparents need to go back to work or find additional sources of income to help raise their grandchildren.

The primary function of a family is to  ensure the continuation of society both biologically through protections and socially through socialization. Given these functions the nature of one's role in the family changes over time. Family is important because it provides love, support and framework of values to each of it's member's.