According to Burgess and
Locke, “Family is a group
of persons united by the ties of marriage, blood or adoption; consisting a
single household, interacting and intercommunicating with each other in their
social roles of husband and wife, mother and father, son and daughter, brother
and sister creating a common culture”
According to Elliot and Meril, “Family is the biological social unit composed of husband, wife and children.
Families are of different sizes — nuclear , joint family. Due to the vastly different structures in family and child raising practices, there is no universal influence on the individual.
Types of Family:
Though family
is a universal institution, its structure or form varies from one society to
another. Sociologists and anthropologists have mentioned about different types
of families found in different cultures.
Classification
of families is generally done on the basis of organisation (nuclear and joint),
forms of marriage (monogamous or polygamous), authority (matriarchal or
patriarchal) and residence etc. Types of Families in India Family may be
broadly defined as a unit of two or more persons united by marriage, blood,
adoption, or consensual union, in general consulting a single household,
interacting and communicating with each other (Desai, 1994)
Nuclear Family:
The nuclear
family is the traditional type of family structure. The nuclear family is a
unit composed of husband, wife and their unmarried children. This is the
predominant form in modern industrial societies. This type of family is based
on companionship between parents and children.
This
is also known as the conjugal family or family of procreation and comprised of
married partners and their offspring. In this type of nuclear family, there is
one parent with dependent children.
Single Parent Family
This
consists of one parent raising one or more children on his own. The single
parent family consists of one parent raising one or more children on her/his
own. The single parent family is the biggest change society has seen in
terms of the changes in family structures. Single parent families are generally
close and find ways to work together to solve problem, such as dividing up
household chores. This limits income and opportunities in many cases, although
many single parent families have support from relatives and friends.
Joint family/ Extended family
If two or more nuclear families live together under a common shelter, and share
a common hearth, and a common purse, then this type of family is known as joint
family.
The term
extended family is used to indicate the combination of two or more nuclear
families based on an extension of the parent-child relationships. According to
Murdck, an extended family consists of two or more nuclear families affiliated
through an extension of the parent-child relationship … i.e. by joining the
nuclear family of a married adult to that of his parents.
The
patrilineally extended family is based on an extension of the father-son
relationship, while the matrilineally extended family is based on the
mother-daughter relationship.
The extended
family may also be extended horizontally to include a group consisting of two
or more brothers, their wives and children. This horizontally extended family
is called the fraternal or collateral family. In India, the family weather
extended vertically and/or horizontally is called the joint family. The joint
family consists of a man and his wife and their adult sons, their wives and
children and younger children of the paternal couple, says M.S. Gore.The size
of joint family is very large. Generally, the eldest male is the head of the
family.
Dependent family member means a natural, adoptive, or
step-child, parent, or sibling of the institutionalized individual who is or
could be claimed as a dependent for the most recent federal tax year by the
institutionalized individual, the institutionalized individual's spouse, or the
couple. Dependent family member of students and faculty/staff may use the
facility during regular hours provided they are accompanied by the member.
Broken Family
A broken family can negatively affect all domains of your child’s
development. The effects of a broken family on a child’s development depend on
numerous factors, including the age of the child at the time of parents’
separation, and on the personality and family relationships. Although infants
and young children may experience few negative developmental effects, older
children and teenagers may experience some problems in their social, emotional
and educational functioning.
A family is important because our mental growth, well-being, and stability all depend on our family. .This is the first social group that shapes the personality of an individual.The mission of our family is to create a nurturing place of faith, order, truth, love, happiness, and relaxation, and to provide opportunity for each individual to become responsibly independent, and effectively interdependent, in order to serve worthy purposes in society."
· A family allows all its members feel safe, connected to one another, protected, accepted and loved despite our shortcomings.
· Family provides comfort of having people during tough times, helping us to manage our stress.
· Families are the basic units that teach children about relationships. Children brought up in a healthy family will be able to form better bonds outside their home.
· Conflicts in family teach children a respectful way to resolve problems in the future.
· A strong family is all a person needs to become confident in life.
Have good communication. A healthy family talks and listens to its every member.
How to Build Strong Family Relationships?
FAMILY VALUES
What Are The Characteristics Of A Strong Family?
Each family is different. But all strong families have some common features. A few of them are listed below:
Have good communication. A healthy family talks and listens to its every member.
· Share a feeling of togetherness. The members of the family share common beliefs and, therefore, feel connected to each other and yields psychological affirmation.
· Spend time with each other. They enjoy playing, camping, dining out or simply discussing politics.
· Show care and affection to every member. The members have kind words to say each other.
· Support its members. The world might be against you, but your family is with you.
· Focus on every member’s well-being. The family members work as a team to protect and provide for each other. Only the feeling of mutual love can motivate people into compromising on their comforts for the happiness of their family.
· Show resilience. Every family goes through ups and downs in their lives and share a painful experience together.
How to Build Strong Family Relationships?
1. Spend quality time
2. Maintain good communication with everyone in the family
3. Appreciate everyone in the family
4. Acknowledge and celebrate each other’s talents, differences and strengths
5. Stay focused on the current problem
6. Work like a team
7. Establish clear family rules
8. Teach children to forgive and make amends
FAMILY VALUES
A family constitutes people who are related to each other and share an emotional bond and similar values. Family members can be related by birth, marriage, or adoption Values, traditions and healthy relationships can strengthen a family bond. Family values are building blocks that provide strong moral and ethical principles for the entire family. It is helping to better each individual member within the family.
The family values are instilled for children such as love, guidance, care, motivation, morals, religion, education, traditions, marriage, consequences, and communication. Family values are intended to teach children, taught shapes their personality and as a source of guidance for life.
Values are often a guide for the decisions making in our life.
Every family will have follows different categories of values .
· In home family members are obedient, kind, caring, compassionate, independent and responsible.”
· A family values include social, political, religious, work, moral and recreational values.
· Create a positive environment.
· Welcome new opinions.
· An environment like this will encourage children to speak up without fear of judgment.