Family Matters

Submitted by Keith Miller

Does having a family matter?  The first question I should ask is, what is family?  According to the U.S. Census Bureau "a family includes a householder and one or more people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption."  When it comes to a family, there can be different types.  There is a traditional or "nuclear family" or there is an extended family.

The first type of family someone can have is a traditional family or some may refer to it has a nuclear family.  What that means is when a married couple and their children all live together.  The other type of family is an extended family which can be defined as when relatives like grandparents for example all live in the same house as the parents and their children. 

Me, I was raised in a nuclear family.  Growing up I lived with both my parents and my sister in one house.  Now I live in Philadelphia with just my sister, away from all of my other 15 family members.  Looking back, I didn't live in an extended family when everyone was under one roof.  But I have always been very close to all of my family members including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Every holiday, every birthday, sometimes even every activity one takes part in, the whole family goes to support and we are always communicating and talking to one another.  So even though I live a traditional family way, I really live as an extended family.

So getting to my question of does having a family matter, I would have to say yes.  Being in such a family has made me the man I am today.  Family matters especially when growing up.  They are suppose to be loving and warm people who you can go to in need of help or personal struggles. Whether you grow up or live in either a nuclear, extended or any kind of family, its important to have that.

"ALL IN THE FAMILY.........WAIT WHO IS THAT AGAIN"



"ALL IN THE FAMILY....WAIT WHO IS THAT"

by: Iyanna Crawley

    When you say "family time", "family reuninom", or "having the family over for the holidays" everyone assumes you are talking about your biological family. Well, waht about your adoptive and same-sex parents or your life long friends and/or roommates?? Do they fit it that catagoery or they have to be misplaced?

    The familt structure has changed throught the course of centuries. It started as a typical or "nucleous family" where they was a mom, dad, kids, and a pet. The mother was a stay-at-homeworker, while dad worked and brought money in the house and the children simply went to school. In this day and age, the different home structures and numerous and various. We have single parent, same-sex parents, step-parents, and still some traditional family homes.



 

      This chart is a perfect example how vast the changes in the family under went. When you throw the word family around, you can't excluded ALL the types of family because then your being biased, and in way your making it seem like only one type of family life is acceptable. When it all boils down, FAMILY is a word that describes a group of people that love, care, and support one another. I know we have many views and beliefs about this topic, but family is family and you can't strip that away from because it might not fit into the "nucleous" picture.

   

Family Meets 2012

Submitted by: Christopher DiNicola
Family Meets 2012

Throughout the past generations there have been many changes in the meaning of the word "family" and how they are constructed today compared to yesterday.  TV shows from the 90's give us somewhat of a perception of how the "normal" family operated in that era.  For example, popular TV show Boy Meets World had a household which consisted of a mother, father, two sons, and a daughter but their "family" extended outside of their household walls.

Clockwise from the left:  Eric Matthews (Older son), Amy Matthews (Mother), Alan Matthews (Father), George Feeney, Shawn Hunter, Morgan Matthews (Daughter), and Cory Matthews (Younger son).

Boy Meets World is a perfect example of the former parenting model consisting of Alan as the bread winner and Amy as the house wife or nurturer.  The family model is also consistant with many of the definitions of a typical family we discussed in class such as, "Family consists of those who live under the same roof" and "A parent or parents and their children".  Eric and Matthew (sons) were assigned chores that were more man like than the fewer chores Morgan had to do which were more feminine.  Mr. Feeney, their neighbor and highschool principal, acted as an outside family member by being a mentor to all members of the family but mainly to Eric, Cory, and their other "family" member Shawn, who is Cory's best friend.

Today, we know that it is more likely for both parents to be breadwinners or even for a single parent as a result of the high rate of divorce to raise a family of the same size which is more similar to Cory's girlfriend Topanga's family situation.  We also know that in our era not only males take on the manly responsibilites both in and outside of the house because of the constant change in gender roles. Morgan's age throughout the series was more the reason for the fewer chores rather than making men take on the higher end of the load which is consistant with gender role stereotypes of the 80's and 90's.

If you have not been able to see changes in family for yourself then just look at TV!  Many series about the typical family today include many of the changes taking place such as in the division of labor, childbearing outside of marriage, and cohabitation.  Other changes like living with step and half siblings, multiple generations, and same sex couples especially same sex parenting are being televised now more than ever.  Though TV should not be used to make perceptions on reality or others it definitely keeps up with the changes in our society and family even though it may not pertain to your lifestyle in particular.

Homeschooling, Good or Bad?

By: Youn Hee Lee


According to NCES, there are 1.5 million homeschooled students in 2007 in the United States. In 1999, there were precisely 1,096,000 home schooled students nationally. Statistics proves that eighty four percent of home schooled students are taught at home. The increase of numbers from homeschooled students between 1999 and 2007 has gone up by seventy four percent. More parents are choosing homeschooling because to offer religion, morals and avoiding negative effects by the school's environment such as pressure on drugs and safety. 

This video shows different views of government school and home school parents. The video relates to socialization because how children grow up in different schooling systems and how different they can be from each other. It relates to one of the agents of socialization which is family and how parents can raise their child and show them morals and their culture. It is the parent's primary role to raise their child appropriately in society. Although, home school and school systems may have some differences, children are still learning some things in these institutions.

My thoughts of homeschooling is great how children can avoid the pressure or influence of drugs and alcohol and how flexible their schedule can be in learning. I personally think there is no difference between public schools and homeschooling because children are developing the same social and learning skills. As long as a child is receiving good education, I do not think it matters at all. Homeschooling biggest disadvantage is the family loss of income, at least one parent must teach their child full time or part time which can make income difficult to get through one parent. Depending on who and how the child is raised from, any schooling all depends on their parent's views of education. 

The Structure of The American Family

Submitted by

Lisa C. Hickson

The structure of the American family has changed dramatically within the last two decades.  Webster defines family as "a basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children.

As we all know, things have changed.  There are several type of families in today's society.  I will talk about some the different types of families we see today.

We have the "traditional family" which consist of a mother, father, and children.  This type of family structure is not a prevalent as it was decades ago; and the reasons vary.    

We have extended families, these are families composed of mothers, fathers, children, grandparents aunts, uncles etc.  Usually when you see these type of families, there are financial reasons, maybe someone lost their job and help is needed with mainting the household.  Another reason could be a family member lost their house and they are financially able to get another home on their own.  When situations like this happen, we see the forming of extended families under one roof.  I'm sure there are positive as well as negative issues with this type of family structure.

We also have single people raising children on their own.  We usually automatically think single mothers; but there are also single fathers raising children.  The reasons vary for this type of family structure one reason could be divorce, another could be death of a spouse, or maybe these individuals just wanted to be single parents.

We are now seeing numerous same sex families raising children.  Usually if the same sex is male adoption is usually how children come into the relationship.  But that is not always the case, a man can have his sperm artificially inseminated into a women of his choice, after the baby is born or before all of the legal work is done, and that child is placed with the fathers.  We also have females who are in a relationship and want to have children.  Basically the same thing can happen, one or both women can be artificially inseminated with a mans sperm.and children are created.  

The video that I have selected shows the different type of families that I have mentioned in my blog, and it gives statistics and percentages of these different type of families.  I think it's a very interesting clip.  We have been discussing in class the changing of the family structure over the years and what type of affect it has on society and the families. 

In conclusion I feel that the family structure had to change to adapt to today's society.  Who are we to say what family structure is right or what family structure is wrong.  We see these different type of families everywhere.  In our communities, on television, on the big screen, so suffice it to say that the American family structure as we knew years ago has changed.