Exercise 3

Work in pairs and talk. Imagine that:

a) you are speaking with a distant relative trying to find out what relation you are to one another;

b) you show your family album to your friend and answer all his or her questions.

Family as the key social structure

There are many different views on family life. Some people say they cannot do without the support and love of their families. Many others say it is the source of most of their problems. Yet it is difficult to give the definition of a ”normal“ family.

What exactly is a family? Broadly speaking the family is a group of people related by blood or law, living together and joined by marriage for a common purpose.

Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and the extended family. In highly developed industrial countries, especially in their large cities, the nuclear family is regarded as normal. Most people think of it as consisting of two parents and two-children. But even this type is changing; there are a lot of families with one child only, which means that the nuclear family is shrinking year by year.

The variety of family types exiting at present also includes unmarried couples living together, two-person childless families, single-parent homes which are becoming steadily more common.

I believe that everything has beginning in the family. Family is important for every person because it gives you a feeling of having understanding. In happy families parents are honest with their children. At weekends they have breakfast together. They broadly smile and look cheerful. In a friendly family people are gentle, respectful and loving.

At wedding ceremonies couples are sure that they will have and hold each other from this day forward. Marriage is a very responsible decision. Common interests, mutual respect are no less important than love. Children need to know that their parents love them and they also love each other.

I suppose the saying is true that small children create small problems while the big ones bring big problems. The older we grow, the more patient our parents should be with us.

Every generation is different from the previous one. Parent’s judgments on many things are sensible and reasonable, but at the same time I suppose that children have the right to make their own mistakes and to overcome their own hardships.

I want to admit that sociologists think that the family reflects all the processes of modern society and, like any social phenomenon, it keeps changing.