A family is a group of people who live together in the same household and take care of each other. There are three types of family setup which usually include: nuclear family, single-parent family as well as extended family. In this paper, we are going to discuss only nuclear and extended families.
Nuclear Family
The traditional nuclear family usually consists of a father, a mother, and their children making it small and manageable. The main function of the father in this structure is to provide and cater to the family’s needs as well as provide protection of its members. He also acts as a family disciplinary role model while the mother’s role consists of motherhood and housework. This type of family structure is alien to most world cultures but common in the American culture where the main aim of the family is to provide happiness to individual members while valuing love and respect for the parents.
A nuclear family provides total freedom to the members where children are free to argue and disagree with the decisions of the parents. The advantages of this type of family consist of the fact that one can spend time with his/her family; what is more, such a family is small and easy to manage and take care of. Although it is a simple family it has some challenges associated with it which include lack of guidance, supervision, cooperation from the elder members during hard times, therefore, children often lack good adhesiveness and caring hearts in such kind of families. (Walrath 256)
Extended Family
This is a group of family members that consists of parents, children, and other close relatives who live in close geographical proximity, in other words, within easy reach to one another. It makes its members feel secure and have a sense of belonging; in the American culture extended family is referred to as a basic family unit that promotes the nature of collective cultures (Walrath 543).
This family is more complex compared to a nuclear family and it provides various advantages where its members feel secure because this family has many members who are ready to assist and serve as a source of resources to each other during difficulties, work is shared equally, and gets done in the fastest way possible. Although to its nature extended, the family has some challenges such as lack of proper coordination as well as difficulties in feeding it. (Walrath 246)
Works Cited
Walrath, Dana, and McBride, Bu Haviland. Anthropology: The Human Challenge. Wadsworth, 2010.