What influence does the family have on social development?
Quips and Quotes
I met a rosy maid, a rosy burden bearing, “Is he not
heavy?” I said, as past me she was hurrying. She looked
at me with grave, sweet eyes, this fragile little mother,
And answered in swift surprise: “Oh no Sir. He’s my
brother.”
Anonymous
Lesson Objectives
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Suggested
Instructional
Strategies
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Direct
Independent
Interactive
Indirect
Experiential
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This lesson, which may take several class periods to
teach, addresses the profound and critical influence that
our families of origin have on every aspect of our lives,
for the duration of our lives.
How do we define a family?
What are the functions of families?
What are the characteristics of strong and healthy families?
What are the different parenting styles?
What is the national census data on Canadian families and children's living
arrangements?
How vulnerable are families to crisis and mistreatment of children?
What is the influence of culture on families?
Discussion/Research: The family
o How would students define a family?
o What are the variations in families in Canada today?
o Is any family better than no family at all?
o Based on the Portraits of Families in Canada: 1996 Census summary,
discuss the implications of the substantial rise in common-law and single
parent families and the increasing number of stepfamilies.
o What are the characteristics of healthy and well-functioning families?
o What are the issues, challenges, advantages and drawbacks of one parent,
step- and same-sex parent families?
Research: Family history
o Interview your grandparents (or great-grandparents) for their
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recollections about your family history.
Discussion: Culture and parenting, raising a family
o Based on the Interactions article, Parenting and Child-rearing From a
Cross-cultural Perspective, discuss how culture influences family
arrangements, economics, roles and processes.
Discussion: Where do children live in Saskatchewan?
o Using the template supplied in the Curriculum Support Materials, discuss
the implications for child care and healthy development based on the
census data from 1996.
Making Connections
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Media Studies: Television Moms and Dads
o Compare and contrast the various images and presentations of parents on
television.
o How have these images changed over the past two or three decades?
Resources
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Website to find meanings of first names
On-line genealogy index
Interactions : Strengths in Families, accentuating the positive
Interactions : Parenting and Child-rearing from a Cross-cultural Perspective
Curriculum Support Materials: Family Types in Canada
Curriculum Support Materials: Where do children live in Saskatchewan?
Taking the Pulse of Saskatchewan
Lesson 4.2: Teacher Information
How do we define a family?
Family is defined as any combination of two or more persons who are bound together over time by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or
adoption/placement and who, together, assume responsibilities for variant combinations of some of the following:
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physical maintenance and care of group members
addition of new members through procreation or adoption
socialization of children
social control of children
production, consumption and distribution of goods and services
affective nurturance – love (Schlesinger, 1998, p. 3).
What are the functions of families?
As the Vanier Institute of the Family definition indicates, families perform vital functions for society and for their members. Society
as we know it would be simply unimaginable without them. Researcher Shirley Zimmerman (1988) has listed six basic functions of
families that demonstrate how important and far-reaching these functions are:
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Physical maintenance and care of family members. Within healthy families, children, adults and seniors all receive the care
and support they need: food, shelter, clothing, protection and so on. Where families are not available or are unable to provide
these services, family members suffer and substitutes, usually inadequate ones, must be found.
Addition of new members through procreation or adoption and their relinquishment when mature. Society renews itself
through families. For this function, there is, literally, no substitute.
Socialization of children for adult roles. Families prepare their children for life. Most do a fairly good job of it, teaching
skills, values and attitudes that equip them to learn, work, form friendships and contribute to society.
Social control of members…the maintenance of order within the family and groups external to it. Within families, individuals
learn positive values and behaviour and receive criticism for negative ones.
Maintenance of family morale and motivation to ensure task performance both within family and in other groups. In this
regard, families provide the glue that holds society together and keeps it functioning. Beyond providing mere social control,
families, through love and spiritual leadership, inspire their members and others to keep trying.
Production and consumption of goods and services. Families provide for their own by producing goods and services like food,
home maintenance and health care. As they strive to fulfil the needs of their members, they play a vital role in the national
economy (Schlesinger, 1998, p. 3).
What are the characteristics of strong and healthy families?
The characteristics of strong families include:
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work for the well-being or defend the unity and continuity of their families
support each other in their families
respect each family member for his/her uniqueness and difference
spend time together to build family cohesion
delegate responsibility
allow children to make mistakes and face the consequences
the family contributes to the well-being of their neighbourhood, city, country or world
have a spiritual orientation or a spiritual dimension (which may not be the same as religiosity) (Schlesinger, 1998, p. 10).
What are the different parenting styles?
Diana Baumrind (1971) emphasizes three styles of parenting that are associated with different aspects of the child’s socioemotional
development:
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Authoritarian parenting is a restrictive, punitive style in which the parents exhort the child to follow their directions and to
respect work and effort. The authoritarian parent places firm limits and controls on the child and allows little verbal
exchange. Authoritarian parenting is associated with children's social incompetence.
Authoritative parenting encourages children to be independent but still places limits and controls on their actions. Extensive
verbal give-and-take is allowed, and parents are warm and nurturant toward the child. Authoritative parenting is associated
with children's social competence.
Neglectful parenting is a style in which the parent is uninvolved in the child's life. It is associated with children's social
incompetence, especially a lack of self-control.
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Indulgent parenting is a style of parenting in which the parents are highly involved with their children but place few demands
or controls on them. Indulgent parenting is associated with children's social incompetence, especially a lack of self-control
(Gross and McIlveen, 1998, p. 347)
What is the national census data on Canadian families and children's living arrangements?
There were 7.8 million families in Canada, according to the Statistics Canada definition of a census family. At the time of the 1996
census, 45 out of every 100 families were married couples with children. This represented a decline from 1991, when the number was
52 out of every hundred. Couples without children accounted for 35 percent of all families. This group, which remained a steady
proportion over the last decade of the twentieth century, included both the parents of children who have grown up and left home, as
well as couples who have not had children.
Looking at the different kinds of families over time in terms of each group's proportion of all families, families with children living at
home made up 65 percent of all families. This was a reduction of five percent over the last quarter of a century. The proportion of
those families with children with two parents decreased from 87 percent to 78 percent. At the same time, the proportion of lone parent
families increased from 14 percent of all families raising children to 22 percent. Common-law couples with children accounted for an
increasing proportion of all families, rising to six percent in 1996.
Looking at Canada's 7.8 million census families again, without reference to whether the adults were married, common-law or lone
parents, 5.1 million families or 65 percent had never-married children living at home. Significantly, this percentage has not changed
since 1991.
The proportion of people living in families declined somewhat over the 90s. Partly, this was because people chose to wait longer
before living together or getting married. There was also a larger proportion of separated, divorced or widowed people no longer
living as part of a census family.
At the last census of the century, 9.7 million Canadian children and young people under the age of 25 lived in families. Of the nearly
10 million Canadians under the age of 25, 8.6 million were children who lived in a two-parent or lone-parent family. More than seven
out of ten lived in families with two legally married parents, about one in ten lived with a common-law couple, and almost two out of
ten lived with one parent, usually the mother.
The remaining 1.1 million young Canadians lived in other situations that are difficult to count. Approximately 491 000 of the older
ones were themselves married or living common-law, and some were lone parents. Some were divorced, and had moved back in to
their parental home. Another
297 000 were living with non-relatives at the time of the 1996 census. About 121 000 were young adults living on their own.
The picture of the family circumstances of children and young people is a snapshot at century end. Over the last thirty years, Canada
has seen increased rates of separation and divorce, the declining popularity of marriage, a growing number of common-law unions, an
increasing recognition of same-sex couples, and more blended families. These changes have resulted in more complex lives for many
children who will grow up in a number of different family environments during their childhood and adolescence. The variety within
families means that young people are growing up among peers whose family lives often differ markedly from their own.
Source: The Vanier Institute of the Family
How vulnerable are families to crisis and mistreatment of children?
Vulnerable-to-crisis families are generally adequate-caregiving families that are pushed over the edge by immediate stressful
problems. The loss of a job, for example, or the birth of a handicapped infant can severely strain most parents' ability to cope with the
normal demands and frustrations of child rearing. About one-fourth of all families are vulnerable-to-crisis. Usually, they realize they
have a problem, and this makes them receptive to services such as crisis counseling and parent training. Once the parents learn to
cope with their specific problem more effectively they are again able to provide adequate child rearing.
Restorable families make up about half of all families. The caregivers in restorable families have the potential to provide adequate
care, and perhaps have done so in the past, but a number of problemscaused not only by their immediate situations but also by their
past histories and their temperamentsimpair their parenting abilities. A single mother, for example, might have untreated medical
problems, inadequate housing, and poor job skills, all of which fray her quick temper and cause her to explode just as her father did
when she was a disobedient child. Treatment for restorable families requires a caseworker who has the time and commitment to
become a family advocate, mediating and coordinating various services. The goal is not just child protection but family support,
emotional as well as material. With such intense help, restorable families eventually become successful ones.
Supportable families make up about one-fifth of all maltreating families. They probably will never function adequately and
independently, but with continual support they might meet their children's basic needs for physical, educational and emotional
care. The support might be as simple as daily home visits by a nurse or housekeeper or as involved as moving the entire family to a
special residence that provides on-going medical attention, day care, recreation, social work and group therapy.
Inadequate families constitute nearly 10 percent of maltreating families. They are so impaired by deep emotional problems or serious
cognitive deficiencies that the parents or other caregivers will never be able to meet the needs of their children. For children born into
these families, long-term adoption, beginning with foster care in infancy, is the best solution (Berger, 2000, p. 261).
What influence does culture have on families?
There have been very few studies of successful families from various ethnic groups. One of the best was done by Douglas Abbott and
William Meredith (1988), who compared Caucasian, African American, Mexican American, Hmong, and Native American
families. The researchers asked these families to rank various family traits that were derived from earlier studies of successful
families. The most agreement across ethnic groups was among the Caucasian, African American, and Mexican American
families. The Hmong differed the most from all the other families; their greatest difference was with the Caucasian families. Native
American families were somewhat similar to African American and Mexican American families but different from Hmong
families. Nevertheless, they were surprised to find generally more agreement than disagreement across the various ethnic groups,
although they also identified some important differences (Schlesinger, 1998, p. 27).