Contemporary Family Essay

People may have different idea of what is a family. The definition of an American family has become a dynamic and changing idea in recent years, now we find public acceptance of new family constructs that were not considered the mainstream. “Family” is a household grouping in all human society. In this essay I will discuss the “many forms of contemporary families and its function” and “some of the economic factors affecting comtemporary family”
First, “the many form of contemporary families and its functions”. Nuclear family it includes; parents children aunt’s uncles, grandparents living in one household. However single parents are becoming one of the most common family groupings in the United States (Pg61). It is interesting to see how,

The larger majority of these single-parents are led by mother. I understand how this type of family works, because I was raised by a single mother. There is a lot of work involved in been a single mother. The mother takes care of the house, the kids and work at the same time. Another type of family is post nuclear family. This term is used, when the mother or father remarriages. Blended or reconstituted family is when a women or men who don’t have kids married someone else. Extended family is another common type of family in the United States. The mother or the father with children living with and other member of the family it could be the grandmother or the grandfather. In my culture people do that a lot. After reading Family schools and community, chap 3. I realize how time has change the way we think about family and what we consider the “proper” family. Now we have family headed by gays and lesbians. According to the book they function much like other family configurations, have similar child care needs, and have comparable numbers of separations. Adoptive family is another type of family. These

Some of the economic factors affecting this types of families insufficient money, health care needs and child care. The loss of a job or a fire can be an economic factor for this types of families. In the case of single parent family, a single mother without support will have economic difficulties if she works in a minimum salary, fulltime and paying child care. Extended family is common in the United Stated. One of the reasons is economy. Rent is very expensive and not everyone can pay it. Some People who come for the first time to the United States cannot afford to pay a rent the first months so day come to family member children with disabilities that need special care. On the other hand, not everyone have health care. Families have families with children with disability. This type of family is an example of how social and economic factors can affect families. Often special needs families require more school home community and planning. Families with special need children can include learning disability, speech and language impairments, autism, mental retardation, economic disturbance, physical impairments, or other conditions. Physical impairment, sometimes the families don’t have the money to pay for the care of their children. Before, children with disability didn’t have the care they need; some of them didn’t go to school. “But, federal laws enacted over the past 30 years in the united stated protect