How Families Have Changed

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The family set up of society has seen a constant evolution over the past decades. In the beginning, getting married meant eventually having a family and growing old with the nucleus family, that one has created. But due to changing social norms and beliefs, the description of a family has gone from nucleus to step family. Step families are usually the product of divorce and are becoming a more and more common set up in today’s world. The children who find themselves in such a family set up most often en up with a very different view of how a family works when compared to a child who came from a nucleus family. This is because of the two different cultures and social norms that they find themselves immersed in.

Main body

In order to fully understand why and how these changes happen in the modern family, one can turn to the movies for a logical explanation. Movies such as “Stepmom” starting Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon as the mother and stepmother respectively, who vie for the attention and affection of the children. Socially speaking, the change in the family set up was caused by the falling out of the parents. Thus causing the children to live in a shared custody set up with their respective biological parents. Children are then forced to develop a coping mechanism in order to understand why the family set up has drastically changed and what their new life means for them.

The children learn to live within 2 sets of rules and 2 differing parenting styles. Since such a set up is often confusing for children as each parent tries to hone their character in the mold that they have in their minds, the more dominant parenting style usually takes hold upon the children. In the case of the children depicted in the movie, it was the biological mother’s parenting style that influenced the children even when living with their father and his new wife.

Finally, the biggest factor influencing the change in the family set up is usually the death of a parent. As evidenced in the movie, death is something which nobody is prepared for because it changes the lives of those who are left behind. For children, it means the loss of a beloved mother or father whose influence in their lives cannot be measure. For the stepparents, this means adjusting to the new role as the main parental figure of the children. The nucleus family fades away and in its place stands the new step family set up. Usually, this is the final step in the known changes to families of today.

Within the same movie, we can also clearly see that cultural components are taught to the children also in varying styles which, in the end, influence the way they develop their sense of belonging within a given family structure. With their mother, a child is raised in a more traditional manner that has him learning to deal with life in a nucleus family. In this case, the family stands as an institution that carries responsibilities and a high degree of respect for its members. In the step family set up however, step parents tend to be more relaxed in their dealings with the children and thus have a more friendly and open family set up.

Conclusion

Taking these observations into consideration, one can conclude that the changing family set up and parenting styles is mostly influenced by the social evolution of man and will therefore continue to evolve and adjust to the modern family needs.

References

Barnathan, Michael , & Colombus, Chris. (1998). Stepmom. United States: 1492 Pictures.

Starr, Lisa Ritter. 2004. “Stepmom: A family’s picture”. Geneaology today.

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How Families Have Changed

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