Non Traditional Family Essay

In modern day society, family’s face unique challenges as the world shifts towards a non-traditional way of life that people have stood by for decades. Such changes include a difference in roles within a marriage, who is considered family, childhood in a nontraditional family, and the ways in which we conceive a child. These diverges from the norm are discussed in the articles New Families: Modern Couples as New Pioneers by Philip Cowan and Carolyn Pape Cowan, Beyond Sentimentality: American Childhood as a Social and Cultural Construct by Steven Mintz, Making Babies by Anna Mulrine, and Baby Knows Best by Jill Smolowe. The world is entering uncharted territory, where the way in which a family operates and is defined is reluctantly changing.
As family policy’s differ from the reality of the modern family, mother’s and soon-to-be mothers can face issues such as maternal leave, insurance covering AVF or IVF, and issues in custody when the courts favor biological parents rather than the best interest of the child. Through these articles, we are given information on how modern day parents are coping with equalitarian family values, how women are spending thousands on the chance to be a mother through assisted reproductive technology with no government assistance, and how the courts still only recognize biological families despite the overwhelming amount of nonconventional families that now exist. One example from the first article is how as women have been entering the workforce, they struggle with juggling their roles as a mother, wife, and breadwinner. Being a working mother can give new mothers anxiety, which could be fixed through an extended maternity leave time or inexpensive childcare services. In addition to the parents facing uncertainty, children are also victims toward these changes. Now that children are increasingly being raised in single-parent homes or with working mothers, there needs to be new ways in which we think of how we can help the children. Moreover, more work needs to be done to make sure that children are being given the same opportunities despite the fact that some grow up in non-traditional families. The overarching themes seem to suggest that as people are adjusting to these new times of being a parent and the government needs to adapt and provide adequate support and policies during these uncertain and optimistic times.
These articles perfectly explained parenthood in the 21st century America, but what I found the most insightful was learning about how 21st century mothers have it simultaneously easier and more difficult.
To elaborate, women have gained the right to work, which led to financial independence and not having to rely on their husband. Despite this huge accomplishment, I discovered that marriages are still traditional in many ways, such as how women still do most housework chores upon arriving back from work. Therefore, in addition to providing labor outside the home, they arrive at home to even more labor they are expected to perform, despite having the same exhaustion as their husband. This is interesting to me because I never once thought about the fact that when my mother came home from work, she still cleaned the dishes, did the laundry, and tucked us into bed, despite my father also working the same amount of time as her. This portion of the article made me realize that because of how most modern marriages still haven’t given up traditionalism completely, women are now burdened with twice the work. After having read this article, I came to the decision that on the chance that I have children in the future, I will make sure I have a husband that understands that while we are equal outside the house, we must also be equal inside the home. In summation, I concluded that once marriages can move forward from this aspect of traditional family life, I believe it will impact a
mother’s mental, emotional, and physical health.