Family, Home and Relatives
A family is a social unit, consisting of a mother, father and children who share certain goals and values and
live together in one home. It is the most important social group. The family as an institution provides protection,
education, socialisation, and care for the aged, sick or disabled. It also supplies basic physical, economic and
emotional security for its members. Therefore, it fulfils a biological, sociological, emotional, economical and
educational function in modern society. A functioning family shows a strong relationship between its members.
Human needs, such as love, protection, responsibility and support, are fulfilled there, the English proverb “In time of
test, family is best” summarises best the role of the family.
Dictionary defines family as “a group of people consisting of one or two parents and their children”. Living in
a family is important for every human being. Our parents take care of us from our births until we grow up; we are
often loved and even spoiled by our grandparents, uncles and aunts. We are related to our families by blood. We may
live far from them, but we always try to keep in touch with them.
One automatically becomes a family member after being born. However, there are some exceptions. Orphans
and abandoned children grow up in orphanages and foster homes where they get love from non-biological parents and
siblings. There are charity organizations that look for parents who would like to adopt such children. Adopting a child
is a very long process. Couples have to go through checks on their origin, age, financial situation, relationships, living
conditions etc.
Our family supports us when we need it. They are with us in all the important moments of our lives, it is with
our families and in our homes where we learn all the skills that we need for life: how to get on with people and be
tolerant, self-disciplined, polite and helpful. The people closest to us are our parents. Often they show how much they
care by worrying about things like our health and how we do in school. We learn how to communicate and how to be
helpful and understanding through our discussions with them.
All family members have specific social roles with various duties and responsibilities. Domestic chores such
as cooking, shopping, cleaning, doing the washing up, working in the garden, taking out the rubbish should not be
assigned only to women. In modern countries, boys are normally expected to help from childhood. Daughters usually
help their mothers in the kitchen and boys usually help their fathers with household repairs. If the household chores
are not divided up equally among the family members, relationships within that family my get worse and result in
arguments. Slovak boys are spoilt. Their mums often become their “servants” up to adulthood. Later on, this over-care
is expected to be passed on to their future wives. However, modern Slovak women are quite ambitious. They require
more that just some help with little chores, such as cutting the grass, cleaning the car or taking out rubbish. Nowadays,
we can see more and more fathers pushing prams or playing with their children in parks. Even more, there are some
men who decide to stay at home with their babies on “maternity” leave instead of their wives who often have better
paid jobs.
As members of a family we have different relationships with the people we live with. The relationship with
parents is special: we love them, but we have to respect and obey them as they are responsible for our upbringing. Our
siblings, our brothers and sisters, are much closer to us. They are form the same generation, share similar hobbies and
probably have much the same opinions. Relationships with grandparents are similar to those with our parents, but
there is one important difference: grandparents are not responsible for us. We do not live with them, so most of us see
our grandparents only once or twice a month, and even then we usually spend only one or two days with them.
Sometimes, we spend only a few hours with them.
Most parents claim that the worst for them is when their parents turn thirteen and become teenagers.
Teenagers tend to spend much of their free time out with friends and prefer making their own decisions, unsupervised
by their parents. Teenagers complain that their parents do not understand them and interfere in their business. On the
other hand, parents think today´s children do not respect any adult, are impolite and sometimes rude and even lazy.
The generation gap has existed for hundreds of years and it seems that the only solution may be a kind of compromise.
Parents should try to build friendly relationships with their children, instead of scolding them all the time. They should
talk to their kids and try to find solutions together.
Partnership also means many duties and responsibilities connected with bringing up children. The main role of
parents is to raise their children. Parents should teach how to differentiate between good and bad, how to solve
problems in live, become an independent person and care about others. Democratic parents lead a dialogue with their
children and respect their opinions, Authoritative parents set strict rules and do not look for compromises. Such as
approach often leads to a generation gap between parents and their own children. Very liberal parents give too much
freedom to their children without limits. Over-daring parents give too much love and usually bring up spoilt and
dependent children who are unable to set up their own families. The main duty of children is learning and going to
school. Besides that, children are expected to help their parents with some housework. Children should never forget to
pay back their parents´ love and care with kisses and hugs during their love.
Family is the product of historical development. Modern European families are monogamous and egalitarian.
Married couples are expected to live faithfully without having any love affairs. The average age for marriage is much
higher than it was in the past. The statistics shows that the majority of young people get married in their late twenties
or early thirties. There are no prejudices against women and men who do not get married before a certain age. In the
past, they were marked as spinsters or bachelors. Nowadays, they are recognised as modern people who either live
with somebody in the same dwelling or as people who do not want to be tied down by marriage. Living together
without being formally married is called cohabitation.
The wedding is a formal act that takes place in a town hall or in a church where the engaged couple exchange
their wedding rings and promise to live together in good and bad time and in illness too. Despite the promise, it is
often broken. Research shows that in Britain, one in three marriages ends up in divorce. American sources say that
every second couple gets divorced. The common reasons are different interests, lack of faith and trust, financial
reasons, living with parents and parents-in-law, addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, such as slot machines and
unemployment. Broken families in Slovakia are no exceptions. Currently, Slovak teenagers have better access to sex
education and contraception than in the past. It prevents marriages and divorces at an early age.
Many children grow up in families in which relationships are broken. This is sometimes called a “broken
home”. Sometimes they live in a single-parent family, with just their mom or dad (if a parent has died or their are
divorced). Many children live with stepparents. Life may be very difficult for these children, both emotionally and
financially. The divorce rate is rising, so more and more children live in families that cannot help them overcome the
problems teenagers face every day. One day every child becomes an adult, falls in love, gets married and the long
existing pattern of family is repeated in a new generation.
In the case of divorce or the death of one of the parents, children are brought up by a single parent. A woman
who loses he husband is called a widow and a man is a widower. When they get married again, the new parents are
called step-parents. The situation gets very serious when a child is separated from his loving mother, father or sibling.
In some cases, divorced parents get married once again. Bad relationships with new step-parents and siblings often
result in frequent arguments. There families are closed reconstituted or step-families.
Family life is different all around the world. In Slovakia many families get together for various occasions and
anniversaries, such as birthdays, graduations, weddings, christening and confirmation parties, church feasts and
funerals, Slovak families are known for their hospitability. A family gathering is a unique social occasion and most
people love going to such an event because we see our whole family and have the chance to talk to our cousins, aunts
and uncles who we do not see very often.
In some societies, choice of marriage partner is a matter of individual choice – people meet, fall in love and
marry. In others arranged marriages are the norm (situations in which parents either decide or have a great say in the
individual´s choice of marriage partner). In our own recent past, arranged marriages amongst the upper classes tend to
be the norm, mainly because wealthy parents wanted to ensure that their family wealth was not diluted by the son or
daughter´s “inappropriate” married (a marriage to someone whose family were not wealthy).
There are a number of different family structures that we can identify (extended, nuclear, single-parent and
reconstituted) as well as a number of “family structures” that might be considered to deviate from the kind of nuclear
form.
Extended Family – a type of family structure generally consisting of three or more generations living in the same
household (or very close).
The Nuclear Family – basically consists of two generations of family members living in the same household. Family
contacts amongst kin (for example brothers, sisters, cousins, etc.) are usually weaker and less frequent than amongst
members of extended families. Contact with wider kin, while it clearly exists, is more likely to involve “impersonal
contacts” such as the telephone, rather than the more closely-personal relationships experienced in the extended
family.
Single-parent Families involve a single person plus dependent children. Although it is more likely to involve a
female parent, a significant proportion of such families involve a male parent. This type of family is sometimes
referred-to as a “broken nuclear” family.
Reconstituted Families (Step-families) – type of family is usually nuclear in form and involves parents, children of
either spouse from a first marriage and (possibly) children from their present marriage. This type of family structures
is becoming increasingly common.
A family, a real home and relatives are what we need for life. They always help us when we need them.
Family isn´t about whose blood you have. It´s about who you care about. (Trey Parker and Matt Stone)
Grandparents are a link between your past and present. Grandchildren are your link between your present and future.
(Author unknown)