All in The Family

In the past, around the 1950's era, a nuclear family was considered the norm. The nuclear family consists of a mother, father, and generally two children, a boy and a girl.  The mother and father of a nuclear family are married without any marital issues in the past or present.  This was considered to be the perfect family.  The father took part in labor intensive work outside of the home while the mother worked in the household cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the two children.

In modern day, the nuclear family is not as common.  Society is beginning to accept same sex parents, teen parents, and divorced parents.  Children are being raised by single parents and being just as successful as children that were raised by their married parents.  The media is also adapting to these types of families.  The MTV shows, Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, allow their audience to see how teen parents raise their families with limited income. In some cases, the grandparents have to act as the caretakers for the children. With married couples having over a 50% divorce rate today, families can be made up of step parents, step siblings, and half siblings.  All of these types of families are not looked down upon because today's culture is accepting to this phenomena.

The article, Dad- Mom Role Reversals, describes a family that transitions into a working breadwinner mother and a stay at home father due to the recession.  The parents are not only financially stressed but also emotionally.  The father begins to take on cleaning and cooking and taking care of the children while the mother works longer hours.  This may shatter the father's self esteem because he is used to providing for himself rather than depending on someone else.  I understand that this is a very difficult transition, and I would definitely feel uncomfortable at first if my father was doing the laundry and making my lunch for school when I was a child.  Although it is a shock at first, I am sure that everything works out in the end and the parents are able to make it work as long as they are there for each other.