Families Today - What Is a Family?

FAMILIES TODAY

What is a family? The composition of families today has become diversified. The meaning of what a family constitutes has changed throughout the years. The word family is difficult to define since many different people have different ideas on what a family consists of. To some it could mean being married to the person you love be it of the opposite sex or same sex, it is someone you share deep feelings for. There are also others who believe that family is comprised of not only husband, wife and children but of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. There is no right or wrong answer it all depends on what your perception is. In this day and age Family is what you make of it, I believe that people are free to choose what they want and live however they want. This allows the family dynamics to flourish while allowing people to choose their own definition of family.

Today’s family is not limited to husband, wife, and children, now you have single moms or single dads raising children on their own. In single-parent homes, it is usually necessary for that parent to work outside the home in order to properly provide for their children. You also have the families in which the woman is the breadwinner and the dad is the stay at home parent. It was unheard of for a man to be the one who stayed home and took care of the children. But now more and more fathers want to be home for their children, therefore the mom has taken on the role of head of household. In addition to fathers taking over the role of stay at home parents you also now have grandparents raising their grandchildren.

Grandparents raising children has become more common in today's society, this