What Is the Family
What Is a Family?
Stephannie Jennings
Marriage and Family
Professor Dawn McNeal
April 8,2013
What Is a Family?
The Definition of Family What is a family? According to information that I read in the course textbook entitled Public and Private Families, it states that the growing diversity of families and the widespread ambivalence about them raise the question of how we should even define a family. Some observers claim that families are so diverse that the concept of the family may not even be useful anymore. At the other end of the spectrum observers are so extreme, that they have gone as far as to say that politicians should only use the singular form of “family” (instead of the plural “families”) to signify that there is only one proper kind of family, and that is the married heterosexual couple living with their biological children. Though I acknowledge and respect that everyone is entitled to their opinion, I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. My parents divorced when I was five years old and though I was raised by a single mother, with a very strong family support system I might add, I know that I was a part of a loving family.
My Early Years I am a part of a loving private family of 5. Though my dad left our home when I was only five years old, I was never apart from him. My dad would pick my brothers and myself up every other weekend minimally. Now that I am an adult I can identify with the emotional pain that the divorce caused my mom, but never the less she never kept us away from my dad, and I truly commend her for that, as I am certain that it was not easy. My mom raised myself and my two older brothers to respect and love each other, and to this day my brothers are still hands down two of the most important people in the world to me. Since the very early stages of my memory, I can recall spending quality time with my immediate and extended family. The total family structure which included aunts, uncles, cousins and most
Stephannie Jennings
Marriage and Family
Professor Dawn McNeal
April 8,2013
What Is a Family?
The Definition of Family What is a family? According to information that I read in the course textbook entitled Public and Private Families, it states that the growing diversity of families and the widespread ambivalence about them raise the question of how we should even define a family. Some observers claim that families are so diverse that the concept of the family may not even be useful anymore. At the other end of the spectrum observers are so extreme, that they have gone as far as to say that politicians should only use the singular form of “family” (instead of the plural “families”) to signify that there is only one proper kind of family, and that is the married heterosexual couple living with their biological children. Though I acknowledge and respect that everyone is entitled to their opinion, I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement. My parents divorced when I was five years old and though I was raised by a single mother, with a very strong family support system I might add, I know that I was a part of a loving family.
My Early Years I am a part of a loving private family of 5. Though my dad left our home when I was only five years old, I was never apart from him. My dad would pick my brothers and myself up every other weekend minimally. Now that I am an adult I can identify with the emotional pain that the divorce caused my mom, but never the less she never kept us away from my dad, and I truly commend her for that, as I am certain that it was not easy. My mom raised myself and my two older brothers to respect and love each other, and to this day my brothers are still hands down two of the most important people in the world to me. Since the very early stages of my memory, I can recall spending quality time with my immediate and extended family. The total family structure which included aunts, uncles, cousins and most