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Michael Warrick
Professor Moore
Concept Essay
Writing 1310
Families, we all have them. There are actually many different types of
families that people can experience in their life times. The first type of family a
person is exposed to is the family of origin, which is basically the family into which a
person is born into. This is the family that we all star off with, our mom and dad.
Then life happens, people grow up, fall in love and decide they want to start a family
of their own. At the point when two people who were previously unrelated decide to
marry and have a child or children, they become a family of procreation. The family
of procreation is defined as the family produced when a couple have one or more
children. Basically the point is that when a child is born, in some way or another a
family is constructed. If one or both of the parents choose to take care of the child or
children then this group of people is called a family unit. As defined by the dictionary
a family is a social unit of one or more adults together with the children they care for.
There are many types of family such as extended family, single-parent family, a gay
family etc.
Often the most common type of family is the nuclear family consisting of a
husband a wife and one ore more children. In the past the nuclear family was the
prominent family unit in society. The American Dream was a white picket fence a
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hard working husband the stay-at-home wife two or three children and a dog named
spot. Many people who chased the American Dream based the idea off of the bible
and what it says about marriage and relationships. But that was then and this is now.
Today the nuclear family is becoming somewhat a thing of the past, almost to the
point that seeing a nuclear family is an oddity to a lot of people, and other forms of
family units are becoming more accepted.
Marriage used to be a sure-fire pact between two people. Although marriage
is not easy by any means, the two would stay married until death did them part. Such
relationships are almost hard to come-by as divorces are becoming the new fad in
recent generations. These days, the vows that are made on ones wedding day have
the same amount of weight as saying your dating. Basically people treat marriage,
and consequently family, as a light issue. In the case of a divorce with children
involved, one or both parents would become what has been termed as a singleparent family unit. A single-parent family has one parent instead of two, and consists
of one or more children in the mix. Sometimes after a family splits like this, one of the
parents finds another mate and starts a new family unit called a blended family
where one or both sides of the newest marriage bring children from former
marriages in to this new family. The blended family unit used to be virtually unheard
of a few generations ago. The idea of divorcing and remarrying was taboo in earlier
times, but now blended families are just as prominent, if not more so than the
nuclear families.
Another family unit can be seen called the extended family consisting of
grandparents, cousins and those related to you that aren’t your immediate family.
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These are considered family units because recently speaking, a lot of children are
living with extended family due to the fact that their nuclear family, or family of
procreation are unable and ill equipped to take care of the life that they chose to
bring into the world. Now, unlike in the past it is more common to find children being
raised by their extended rather than immediate family.
One of the newest types of family units seen today is the gay family unit. The
gay family unit is composed of two members of the same sex raising a child or
children together. Today the issue of rather a gay family should be considered a type
of family is still highly controversial. Out of 50 states in the US, only 6 have legalized
gay marriage. The gay family is not as widely accepted as all of the other types
obviously, because same-sex marriage is not legal in as many places.
As can probably be seen thus far, the family is a complicated thing. Two
people who are in love and married may call themselves a family, but by definition a
family isn’t made by just having two people who are deeply in love and having a
piece of paper that joins the two in marriage. The piece that makes a couple a family
are the children that they have. So even at a young age, the children set the tone and
define the family. Children are deeply affected in life by surrounding people
especially their family members whether they are nuclear, gay, extended etc.
When children grow up they are defined mostly by their values that they gain
in the family that they grew up in or possibly families that they grew up in. A child
that grew up in a nuclear family for example, might value the idea of starting a family
of procreation of their own in order to instill their values in their own children. On
the other hand a child who grew up in a single-parent home might value
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independence over the ideal of depending on another person rather it be in a
friendship or romantically. Still then, a child from a blended family might value the
benefits of creating and maintaining many different relationships in their day-to-day
lives.
Another thing that can be differed in ones life based on their family
experience is a person’s sense of self. A sense of self is how one may see or view
themselves. A person growing up in a nuclear family may see themself as a part of a
whole or a dependent person in a group before seeing themselves as an individual
where someone from a single-parent or blended family will see the opposite within
themselves. This individuality or dependent nature promotes different challenges or
skills in the life of the grown up that can all be acclaimed to his or her family unit. A
sense of self is something that everyone has because it is impossible not to think of
yourself just as everyone has some sort of family because there are years in your life
that it is utterly impossible to be as independent as you need to be for your needs to
be met. Someone has to be your caretaker. That someone is or is a part of your
family.
Family is not only a group of people but it is also a force that enables or
disables ones thought processes and behaviors to function. This force takes people
through life sometimes quickly or slowly based on the issue and their methodology
they receive from their family in their early childhood. To be successful in life the
skills one learn from their family must be utilized, bringing the thoughts and
behaviors they know to be right in to play and thus bringing success.
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