Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Traditional Family

There are many ways that the idea of the “traditional” family has changed over the past several centuries. For instance prior to the 19th century family was often considered anyone who lived within a household whether related by blood or not. This included employees and extended family. Per Coontz (2010) “The biological family was less sacrosanct, and less sentimentalized, than it would become in the nineteenth century.”(p. 35) In society at the time it was socially unacceptable to be separate or not included as part of a family household. Over time, the term family came to encompass the immediate family, a husband, wife and their children. During the late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s there were emerging ideas of family that were not widely accepted as traditional or normal, these included single parent homes with only a Mom or Dad, Stepfamilies and same sex couple and parent households. Today, American ideas of what constitutes a family have drastically expanded to include these formerly “non-traditional” families

A family helps mold each person into who they eventually will become. The family is a guide for the success of a child's future. The stability of family creates a building block for how the child will progress throughout life. When parents divorce, the children are left with no stability causing them to lose basic concepts of childhood that may carry with them throughout life. Children of divorced parents have less success and happiness creating less productive citizens in our nation.

Stephanie Coontz in “The Way We Weren’t: The Myth and Reality of the Traditional Family” emphasizes that the traditional and ideal nuclear family widespread in media and textbooks are false and far from reality. In fact, it is common to see more similarities to the traditional family consistent of “male breadwinner and nurturing mother” (1) today than in the past.

The traditional American family comes from the 1950s, when TV shows like Leave It to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet were released. They were the model to follow and create the family that the myth promotes. Parents happily married, nice house in suburbia, and a harmonious home are common traits of the model American Family. The myth of the American family creates a template for other families to follow; however, it only reflects to Caucasian families and creates a disappointment on today’s society.

The ideal traditional family consists of a father, a mother, a couple of kids and maybe a dog in a rather spacious home. We all know examples of families like this but are also aware that there are different renditions of it. There are single parent families, divorced/split families, and a family with a remarried couple with stepchildren and same sex couples with/without children. I, myself, have been included in a

For the first five years of my childhood, I was raised in a single parent home. My mother would have to work harder to provide anything that was needed for me and my other siblings. But that changed when my father came back into our lives when I turned six. From that point on our family structure took a drastic change for the better. My mother didn't have to work as long as before, so we were able to see her more often. Having two parents at home caused the quality of our lives become better than it was before when only one parent supported us. For many households, however the reality is that only one parent during their upbringing. This does have a rather big effort on them in the life of the child and the parent who is raising the child. A single parent household harms the parent and the child.

Depending on their cultural background, many families will often have different understandings or ideas of what a family is and how it should be structured.

One major difference between the traditional and modern family is the decrease in family size. The traditional family tends to be extended with three or more generations in the same household because it provides a strong union between its members. Another reason for a large household is that usually farming was the principal economic activity of the family

The Decline of Traditional Family Being Detrimental to Society Some people believe that the decline of the traditional family (Nuclear family) is detrimental to society because a lot of people are not socialising. This is one of the basic roles that a traditional family performs for individuals to meet the expectations of society. Only through a family can a person play a full part in society.

Determining family structure and dynamics as well as defining the family is a complex process. Personally, I come from a very traditional family. Much like the assumptions made by the students in the article Defining Family: Young Adults’ Perceptions of the Parent-Child Bond by Mellisa Holtzman (2008). This is what comes to mind when most people define family; a nuclear family, with married parents, and biological children. However, a family is a complex system and can take on many different forms.

Before referring to the impact of culture on families, I will say that culture is known as knowledge, art, beliefs, law, morals, customs and all habits and skills acquired by man not only in the family but also to be part of a society as a member that is. It is also defined as a set of ideas, behaviors, symbols and social practices learned from generation to generation through life in society. The family is defined as a group of people linked by blood, marriage, or adoption; usually centered on a married couple, their dependents, and relatives. Although there have also been non-traditional families made up of people who are not linked by blood or marriage and are now found more frequently in many regions of the world.

Traditional families versus single parent families. A traditional family household is a household with two parents, mother and father. A single parent family household is a one parent household a mother, or father. This household is usually occurs when a parent dies, parents divorce, or the parents was never married and separated after having a child together. The question at hand is would a child be more successful and mentally stable in life growing up in a traditional family household, or single parenting household? This has been an intriguing argument for many years. I strongly believe a child in a single parent home could grow up to be just as emotionally stable and also be just as successful as a child who grows up with both parents.

The traditional American family is a family involves father, mother, and one or more adopted or biological children and traditional family has a lot of the advantages.

Living alone or living with family has its advantages and disadvantages which include the amount of responsibilities, freedom and financial stability a person has.The majority of young adults for years dream about the day they finally get to move out of their parents home and start living independently. Suddenly when it's time to move out and live on their own it becomes overwhelming. Most teenagers think they are ready to take on the responsibility of living independently but when reality sets in, they realize that providing for themselves is surprisingly more difficult than living with their family.

Since the nineteenth century began, the American family has gone through many changes. Among the many changes that researchers have studied, a few of these changes have been very apparent. The evolution and structure of American households have never seemed to be more diverse than they are now in these modern times. Families have become more racially, religiously, and ethnically diverse (Angier, 2013). Although some still frown upon it, one marrying another person of a different race is much more common and accepted now. Individuals of different religions will marry one another and find ways to make it work. People from different cultures have also come together and formed families. Overall, today’s society seems to be much more accepting than in the beginning of the nineteenth century.