It could all start in such a simple way, just a note on the bulletin board…
Next thing, almost before you know it, you’ve agreed to step out of an airplane – to go skydiving?
Good or Bad?
How can you tell until you get your own bucket organized, plus now your future could depend on staying ahead of your family bucket and maybe the grand parents bucket too!
The traditional family is now a wide-ranging unit of diversified interests and initiatives seeking new adventures, this + everyone = dangers previously not aligned with the family ideas described below.
Here’s how the Wikipedia describes the framework of the traditional and non-traditional family concepts.
In human context, a family (from Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage), or co-residence/shared consumption (see Nurture kinship). Members of the immediate family may include a spouse, parent, brother and sister, and son and daughter. Members of the extended family may include grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew and niece, or sibling-in-law. In most societies the family is the principal institution for the socialization of children. As a unit of socialization the family is the object of analysis for anthropologists and sociologists of the family. Sexual relations among the members are regulated by rules concerning incest such as the incest taboo. As the basic unit for raising children, anthropologists most generally classify family organization as matrifocal (a mother and her children); conjugal (a husband, his wife, and children; also called nuclear family); avuncular (for example a brother, his sister, and her children); or extended family in which parents and children co-reside with other members of one parent’s family. Genealogy is a field which aims to trace family lineages through history. “Family” is used metaphorically to create more inclusive categories such as community, nationhood, global village and humanism. Family is also an important economic unit studied in family economics.
The social reproduction of the family
One of the primary functions of the family is to produce and reproduce persons, biologically and/or socially. This can occur through the sharing of material substances (such as food); the giving and receiving of care and nurture (nurture kinship); jural rights and obligations; and moral and sentimental ties. Thus, one’s experience of one’s family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a “family of orientation”: the family serves to locate children socially and plays a major role in their enculturation and socialization. From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a “family of procreation,” the goal of which is to produce and enculturate and socialize children. However, producing children is not the only function of the family; in societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship between two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household.
Christopher Harris notes that the western conception of family is ambiguous, and confused with the household, as revealed in the different contexts in which the word is used:
“We have seen that people can refer to their relatives as ‘the family.’ ‘All the family turned up for the funeral…. But of course, my brother didn’t bring his family along – they’re much too young.’ Here the reference is to the offspring (as distinct from ‘all’ the family). The neighbors were very good, too. ‘The Jones came, and their two children. It was nice, the whole family turning up like that.’ Here the usage is more restricted than ‘relatives’ or ‘his relatives,’ but includes just both parents and offspring. ‘Of course, the children will be leaving home soon. It’s always sad to see the family break up like that.’ Here the reference is not only to parents and children but to their co-residence, that is, to the household.”
Olivia Harris states this confusion is not accidental, but indicative of the familial ideology of capitalist, western countries that pass social legislation that insists members of a nuclear family should live together, and that those not so related should not live together; despite the ideological and legal pressures, a large percentage of families do not conform to the ideal nuclear family type.
Family types
The diverse data coming from ethnography, history, law and social statistics, establish that the human family is an institution and not a biological fact founded on the natural relationship of consanguinity. The different types of families occur in a wide variety of settings, and their specific functions and meanings depend largely on their relationship to other social institutions. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by “blood,” cultural anthropologists have argued that one must understand the idea of “blood” metaphorically and that many societies understand family through other concepts rather than through genetic distance. Sociologists have a special interest in the function and status of these forms in stratified (especially capitalist) societies.
According to the work of scholars, the huge transformation that led to modern marriage in Western democracies was “fueled by the religio-cultural value system provided by elements of Judaism, early Christianity, Roman Catholic canon law and the Protestant Reformation”.
Much sociological, historical and anthropological research dedicates itself to the understanding of this variation, and of changes in the family that form over time. Times have changed; it is more acceptable and encouraged for mothers to work and fathers to spend more time at home with the children. The way roles are balanced between the parents will help children grow and learn valuable life lessons. There is great importance of communication and equality in families, in order to avoid role strain.
Conjugal (nuclear) family
The term “nuclear family” is commonly used, especially in the United States, to refer to conjugal families. A “conjugal” family includes only the husband, the wife, and unmarried children who are not of age. Sociologists distinguish between conjugal families (relatively independent of the kindred of the parents and of other families in general) and nuclear families (which maintain relatively close ties with their kindred).
Matrifocal family
A “matrifocal” family consists of a mother and her children. Generally, these children are her biological offspring, although adoption of children is a practice in nearly every society. This kind of family is common where women have the resources to rear their children by themselves, or where men are more mobile than women.
Extended family
The term “extended family” is also common, especially in United States. This term has two distinct meanings. First, it serves as a synonym of “consanguinal family” (consanguine means “of the same blood”). Second, in societies dominated by the conjugal family, it refers to “kindred” (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family. These types refer to ideal or normative structures found in particular societies. Any society will exhibit some variation in the actual composition and conception of families.
Blended family
The term blended family or stepfamily describes families with mixed parents: one or both parents remarried, bringing children of the former family into the new family. Also in sociology, particularly in the works of social psychologist Michael Lamb, traditional family refers to “a middleclass family with a bread-winning father and a stay-at-home mother, married to each other and raising their biological children,” and nontraditional to exceptions from this rule. Most of the US households are now non-traditional under this definition.
In terms of communication patterns in families, there are a certain set of beliefs within the family that reflect how its members should communicate and interact. These family communication patterns arise from two underlying sets of beliefs. One being conversation orientation (the degree to which the importance of communication is valued) and two, conformity orientation (the degree to which families should emphasize similarities or differences regarding attitudes, beliefs, and values).
The family offers a cultural value to anyone who decides to participate in the family dynamic. Every family is dysfunctional in some ways and in others ways the biggest influence and support network that can really ‘be there’ and make a difference. Like they say, nothing is closer to you than blood. We can learn things inside the family network that are the basis of how we treat others and how we see ourselves. Family is the way we consider our best friends. What is a higher compliment to someone than to say they are like family.
The strength of our family beliefs is more important than we know. Every generation depends on the one before it. We all need to honor our families and show how to leave this world in better shape than how we found it. There is nothing gained in blaming past generations, as family we need to give each other the permission to ‘fail up’ and not fall down. As for the Bucket List… Bring it On! We all have time to spare and share. When it’s with family the time is priceless!
For full attribution and the complete article go to Wikipedia here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family
Jumping out of airplanes is a long way away from Mary Poppins, but as they say you must believe!
Can you say, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?
For More Info on Skydiving check out the following: bit.ly/1mMEtDo
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