A family formation with respect to its composition comprises of a complete or nuclear family, childless couple formation and lone parent formation. A complete family is composed of two companions who could be cohabiting or living as spouses with at least one youngster. It is also described as the traditional family and the most basic institution in child care. Here, women have a major role of managing house chores. Childless couples have an option of either living together as spouses or just cohabit.
These two family forms consist of partners who make decisions on crucial family matters. In modern times, there are instances where the partners belong to the same sex or homosexuals. On the other hand, a lone parent family formation basically has one parent either a father or a mother having one or more youngsters. With the rising cases of divorce and the declining fertility rates, lone parenthood is on the rise. Women are considered the most critical players in raising children and maintaining these families.
Family forms have changed especially due to the dynamics in the women’s workforce which renders them independent and hence, they opt to be single parents. The shift in the role of women from a homemaker to a wage earner has contributed to raising socially exclusive and emotionally detached children in the society since they spend less time with their children (Golombok, 2000).
A child requires the presence of both parents for his or her wellbeing. When such lacks, there arise inadequacies in the family. A complete family consisting of both parents and their children allows for diversity in exchange of ideas and in sharing social roles. It offers a nurturing surrounding in upbringing the children since there is more emotional reinforcement and more economic stability.
It is the ideal family setup to raise children to become socially responsible adults. Children could rely on both parents for moral guidance which helps to reinforce the social values. Moreover, this family formation aids in extensively building a child’s knowledge and skills learnt from each parent. There is a shared responsibility of raising the children as well as mutual support which is emulated by the children. This not only raises socially attached children but also ones who are emotionally fit to be accommodated comfortably in the society.
Childless couples’ family formation involves partners’ choice or their inability to have children. In most cases, couples always desire to raise children together but this might not be so due to major reasons such as infertility. Those who lack children by individual choice reflect selfishness which is not a norm in the children oriented world. However, there are advantages to this family formation.
First, the couple may be having busy schedules in jobs or businesses and having to raise children may prove tricky for them. Therefore, they personally decide to boycott parenting roles to favor other activities. Second, it is the ideal family for those people who are well aware of their advanced age, ill health or lack of nurturing qualities which may not be conducive for raising children.
Lone parenting or modern family form overburdens one party with the responsibility of raising and offering supportive care to the child thus, parental inefficacy. This result to financial constrains which may even affect the family’s health. Lone parenting may be accompanied by isolation which causes frustrations and can be transmitted to the children.
This is problematic in child’s development since it results to societal ills such as violence. In addition, these children become psychologically affected and eventually, their education is as well affected. It may arise as a result of surrogate maternity, child adoption, separation or even impregnation by artificial insemination (Golombok, 2000).
Reference
Golombok, S. (2000). Parenting: What Really Counts? New York: Routledge Publishers.