- Define and explain What Makes a Family? in your own words
- Use key terms such as Blended family accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
Everyone grows up in some kind of family, but no two families are exactly the same. In this chapter you will meet nuclear, extended, one-parent and blended families, and see how families look different in different parts of the world. By the end you will be able to describe your own family with a sociologist's eyes, and respect everyone else's too.
This lesson focuses on What Makes a Family?: discover what families have in common and why they are so important.
Discover what families have in common and why they are so important.
Key ideas
Families look after each other
Every family, whatever its shape, does similar jobs: giving love and care, providing food and shelter, and teaching children how to behave and stay safe. Sociologists say the family is the first place where we learn the rules of life. When you look at what families do rather than just what they look like, you can appreciate every kind of family.
Different is not wrong
In some countries most children live with just their parents, while in others three generations share one home. Some children are raised by a grandparent, an aunt or a single parent, and all of these are real families. Respecting different family shapes is one of the first lessons of sociology.
Key term — Blended family: A family formed when two families join together, for example when parents remarry and children gain stepbrothers or stepsisters.
Why might an extended family be common in some cultures?
Grandparents can help raise children and share work and costs, and caring for elders is an important value in many cultures.
Answer: Grandparents can help raise children and share work and costs, and caring for elders is an important value in many cultures.
- Thinking there is only one proper kind of family Many families are nuclear, but extended, one-parent and blended families are just as real and loving.
- Feeling that a changed family is a broken family Families change shape when people remarry, move or grow older; change is normal, not failure.
Practice
Families change and grow: a new shape does not mean a broken family, and one-parent families are real, loving families.
For example: our families look different but they both take care of us.
Any two of: love and care, food and shelter, safety, teaching children how to behave.
A nuclear family is two parents and their children; an extended family also includes grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Blended family"?
Mia lives with her mum and her stepdad, and she has a stepbrother. What kind of family is this?
- What Makes a Family?: discover what families have in common and why they are so important.
- Families look after each other: Every family, whatever its shape, does similar jobs: giving love and care, providing food and shelter, and teaching children how to behave and stay safe.
- Nuclear family: Two parents and their children living together in one home.
- Watch out for: thinking there is only one proper kind of family