Failure of Traditional Nuclear Family - Essay Example

Running Head: TRADITIONAL NUCLEAR FAMILY Traditional Nuclear Family of the of the Traditional Nuclear Family Introduction The traditional nuclear family is a term used by the Western World for a couple or more number of persons who are related to eachother. They may relate to eachother by blood, marriage, or adoption. There was a time when families used to work together in their farms. All the members of a family worked to support the family. At that time parents, especially mothers used to have sufficient time for their children to teach them values and tell them what is wrong for them and the outcomes of their misconducts Failure of Traditional Nuclear Family A rising trend of employment in females, made it impossible for them to give much of the time to their family. Majority of the working mothers seek help from day care centres so that they can work more independently without any responsibility or hassel. (Darling, 2003, 290) They do not get enough time to teach moral and cultural values to their children. It is not much about ethnicity of mothers, but more about the economical, social and cultural back ground they belong. For example, children of separated or diviced parents seem to be more insecure and less confident. Such children are used by their parents to get their motives. Seperated parents use their children to justify their break ups. (Stoll, 2000, 202) When a child experiences all this happening around him, that makes him feel no body loves or want to have them in the whole world. When such children grow up they tend to have more apprehension and aggression and are more expected as grown ups to get into similar type of weak relationships. This has been observed that the rate of poverty is much lesser in married couples that is nearly 5.7%; as compare to single-parent family that is nearly 33.4%. Single mothers end up in getting welfare dependent. Single parent welfare programs and policies are a major cause of traditional nuclear family collapse and they contribute in lowering work and responsible conduct on part of parents. (Charles, Nickie, 2002, 02) Such programmes have also caused a sky scraping rate of break ups, which eventually results in even greater number of welfare recipients, a high rate of poor health conditions, crime, and behavioral dilemmas, lesser interest in education and add to the possibility of obstacles in future for such persons. Statistics reveals that children who are brought up in a single-parent family are more expected to be deprived and encounter more psychological and behavioral difficulties in life. They are more likely to start substance addition and get involved in criminal activities later in life. (Maccoby & Martin, 2005, 90)Such individuals exhibit poor performance academically too; they remain socially and economically backward as compare to other individuals of the society. On the other hand, children of Married parents show superior academic performance, they are less expected to get involved in criminal activities, they are more intelligent and able to perform well in the society. Modern day parents have proved themselves far less concerned about their children than parents of the past. (Frome, 1998, 440) They do not like to seek help from acquaintance and experience of older parents. These days children are not given sufficient of care and time by the parents. As a result they do not learn common family values as they are looked after by trained strangers of the care businesses. (Nelson, 2007, 03)Parents rely fully on the day care centres that they do not even provide proper training of morals and values to the children. These days parents are the least interested in knowing about their child’s academic performance. They think that it is solely responsibility of schoolteachers to assist child within academic curriculum. They forget that they also need to give a quality time to children in order to make them academically successful too. Eventually, children are left behind academically, which is the root cause of poorer self-esteem and a lack of interest in education. In a traditional nuclear family both the parents take part in raising their children. By doing so, one parent can take rest when the other parent is busy in working or playing with the children. Those, who grow up in a traditional nuclear family environment are more capable to take responsibility with care like older siblings can look after younger sibling if parents are not around. As far as results of the breakdown of the traditional family are concerned, most of the people find it regretting and discourage such types of acts that destroys family bonding. However, this issue of traditional nuclear family decline is not just limited to single parent families. (Charles, 2002, 02) A large number of single parents are raising their children with lots of love and care. Some of these single parents are really doing a wonderful job. The fact is, Children necessitate the role play of both the parents in lives. This is the reason, the idea of being a single parent is just not suitable to raise a child however there are instances when it becomes extremely important for the parents to raise their child as single parent. (Jude, 2005, 15) Like, sometimes if one partner is drug or alcohol abuser, or just care free or irresponsible for the children. However, rising rate of illegitimacy and parents break ups have caused devastating psychological troubles in children. This shaky future of children can prove to be destructive for any nation in the world. The problems faced by the children of broken families may affect several generations in future. Conclusion In conclusion, the break down of traditional nuclear family is nothing to celebrate rather it should be seen as a regret on part of modern day society. It is major cause of rising rate of poor economic and physical conditions, discontent, lower learning achievement and anti-social activities. Due to all these, individuals have left behind social interaction and are forced to live a socially isolated and depressed life; that results in higher crime rate, neglect and abuse, and lower educational achievement. Such persons are stuck due to poverty, dissociate and continuing learning. As a result, there is a decline in the consumption of community leisure services, volunteerism, political goings-on and public accountability. References Charles, Nickie (2002) Gender in Modern Britain, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 02 Darling, N., & Steinberg, L. (2003). Parenting styles as context: An integrated model. Psychological Bulletin, Pg 487–496. Frome, P. & Eccles, J. (1998). Parent’s influence on children’s achievement related perceptions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 435–452. Jude, Browne (2005) Gender Inequality and Social Change: Segregation in the Modern Labour Market, Bristol: Policy, 15 Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (2005). Socialization in the context of the family. Parent–child interaction. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. 4: Socialization, personality and social development (pp. 1–101). New York: Wiley. Nelson, K., & Trevino, L. (2007). ‘Managing Ethics’: Straight talk about how to do it right (3rd Ed.). New York: Wiley, pg 1-5. Parr. T (2003) ‘The Family Book’ Pg 10-15 Stoll. S. L. (2000). Family factors associated with academic progress for children with learning disabilities. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 200–206. Read More