Are Traditional Family Units Still There

People who live in the same house and normally are related to each other through blood, marriage, or adoption are called a family. Different encyclopedias and dictionaries define a family in different words. To many a family unit consists of two adults of opposite sex who are related to each other in a socially acceptable relationship. They may have kids. These kids and their parents constitute a family. In different parts of the world, different types of family structures exist. There exists a type of family in which a father and a mother raise their children. There is also another kind of family in which a male can have more than one wife in addition to kids. In some parts of Africa there are families with one female who has more than one husband. Thus the structure of the family unit is very much dependent upon the culture. Most of the cultures in this world promote family life. The family ties are able to shape the personality of a person, so they are very important. Keeping this importance in view, all cultures promote it. The presence of a family unit in the country confirms that there will be peace and harmony in the country. One more advantage of having a family unit in your culture is that people are responsible towards each other. Thus family life makes a person learn to be responsible for her or his actions.

These blood ties are important as they are helpful in shaping a personality. Although people understand the importance of a family unit, the trend of living as a family is decreasing. In many parts of the world people leave their parents and start living separately as soon as they complete their education and are able to earn their own living. In one sense this trend is very positive as everyone is responsible for his or herself. People earn for themselves and as a result, the number of dependents is less in such countries. The obvious result is that the economy of the country is stable. But the loosening ties have their disadvantages as well. Due to the lack of these ties there is a disruption in the society. We do not experience that peace all around the globe today as it existed few decades back. The reason is that the family unit is becoming less important to many people.

The decrease in the life span of a family unit is because of the fact that kids get their education and leave their parents to find work, and spouses lead their own life. There are many other reasons as well. There are many broken families now because the divorce rate is on a rise. The reason for this may be the unstable economic conditions or, a higher number of kids than a couple can afford to have. There are other social evils which are resulting in a lack of families and family ties for many kids. For example, there are many illegitimate children born every year. Now as these kids are born out of wedlock there are not many people who accept them. A huge percentage of such kids are put for adoption. This is something we must discourage. The parents should be responsible enough if they want to have kids even if out of wedlock. If they don’t want that, contraceptives are always there. But it is cruel to have a child and then to leave him or her at the mercy of people. There are certain other evils in our societies which are creating problems for us as these things are decreasing the importance of family unit in the world of today.

On the other hand, in many parts of the world the family unit is as much there as it was a few decades back. Sometimes the rigidity of these ties creates problems. The people who are bound to each other by blood ties in this situation do not give the other person enough space to breathe. This creates suffocation for people and the strength of a family unit starts disintegrating. Family units are still there but they have changed their shape according to the present day requirements.