The Family Effect

Throughout my life, I have seen all different kinds of families, from Mother and Father with 3 children to Mother and Mother raising an adopted child. From working Father with a stay at home Mother to the exact opposite. In the article, Fewer than Half of U.S. Kids Love in "Traditional" Families, Livingston collects data about how the family structure has changed since 1960. She goes on to say that families now have single parents which is a newer phenomenon that is growing to be more popular. But what characteristics make all of these different groups of people families? It doesn't have to just be a shared bloodline, a bringing together of people by the law, or residing in the same house. As Lehrer writes in Family and Women's Lives, "What is meant by family is more than biological relations, of course . In current debates, one specific type of family is considered 'traditional'." This is just not true. Families come in all shapes and sizes and have characteristics that go far beyond biology and location. Families have support for everyone, value the individuality of each person, and unconditional love.

What would we be without our families? For one, we would not have grown up to be the people we are today. Our families raise us to be the best people we can be. With the amount of support they give us, we can become who we are meant to be. We could not have gotten through all of the rough patches in life without their help. We also would not have felt as great without a congratulations from a family member, or even better, an, "I'm proud of you." These words mean so much to many of us when an accomplishment has been made. Regardless of how our families try to raise us, we are all individuals an grow up to be unique in every way. But, our families tolerate us anyway! No matter how many bad things we do or how many mistakes we end of making(which will end up being a lot), they love us anyway. Fighting is normal in families when mistakes are made. It is how we all communicate our feelings the best way we can. Soon after an argument though, a resolution is made and everything goes back to normal. This unconditional love is, in my opinion, what makes family so great and important. No matter what, there is always someone there to make you feel better.

This idea of "traditional" family that Lehrer and Livingston talk about is the most basic observation of what a family is. Lehrer explains that in this family type the man is responsible for making the money to support the family while the mother's responsibility is to care for the children and home. There are so many other types of family structures that are not added to the equation as Livingston shows. Not only do families differ in how they make their money, they differ in size, gender, and sexuality. This definition does not fit all of these other common types of families and therefore, does not work. I believe the new definition of a "traditional" family should be: a family that survives on love and support, no matter the circumstance, and makes an emphasis to accept the individuality of all members.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/22/less-than-half-of-u-s-kids-today-live-in-a-traditional-family/