Traditional Family?

Question

As always, I am writing a paper for my sociology class and I am ONCE AGAIN, trying to get public input from outside of my social circle. Any input would be great. This will NOT be a published piece, and the only people who will see the final piece are myself and my instructor.

How would you define the "traditional family"? Do you think that the vales of the traditional family should be saved? Why or Why not?

I will be quoting from this website, so please be forwarned.

Thank you,
Victoria

Answer 1

My perception of a traditional family is that of my grandparents. Its the mother and father with the 2 (or more)kids. My grandparents were very loving throughout their 53 years of marriage.

Now, do I think that the values of the traditional family should be saved? Honestly, no. I've grown up in a family with my parents who were constantly fighting. Constantly saying that they were going to divorce. If a family can actually make it, then kudos to them.

Today we live in a society were women and men are focused on their careers. Marriage is a commitment that occur several times in a lifetime. I know someone who is 28 and is now married for the second time. I live in Massachusetts where they allow women marry each other/men marry each other. I am all for it.

America has evolved over the years. Times evolve and so does the concept of a "traditional" family.

Answer 2

Give me traditional families any day of the week! And by traditional, I mean a man and a woman who are married to each other and who bring up children (adopted or otherwise) in a stable home environment where the children can feel nurtured and secure. The physical family is the most important building block to human society, and as such, it should be nurtured and protected. The deterioration of traditional families is having a devastating impact on children in particular and society in general. In the past 50 years I have witnessed the breakdown of the traditional family and the effects it has. Just think about all the victims of divorce, children who are abandoned and homeless, teenage gangs and crime, bullying, drug abuse, etc. Children need to be able to look up to and respect their parents if they are ever going to develop into healthy, mature adults and start families of their own. Whenever the family unit breaks down, it is followed by a breakdown in society and that, in turn, usually results in the disappearance of that particular society. Check out the history books.

Answer 3

I believe that a traditional family is made up of a husband, wife and their children. I do believe that the values of the traditional family should be saved to some extent. I think the world would be a better place if we went back to old fashion values and morals. Today I don't think people work hard enough to make marriages work. Parents don't focus on family as much as people used to. I think if we went back to these ways that we would see an improvement in society. It seems to me if crime and values and morals are getting worse as years go by. I would bet that if we went back to the values of traditional families that things would get better.

Answer 4

The traditional family, to me, is a mother, a father, a son, and a daughter. It's just balanced that way. I never said that the mother and the father are married, nor did I say that the children are both the father and mother's children together. In today's society, many people are getting divorced and ending up as single parents. However, I think the tradition of having both a mother and a father to raise a child in the same household should be held onto. I don't necessarily think people should want to hold onto their marriages simply for the sake of tradition, but I think that in the time apart from each other, while raising the child(ren) as single parents, neither parent should keep the children from seeing the other parent. And I think that having a mother or father re-marry for love is better off on the family than the mother or father remaining single.

Answer 5

A traditional family consists of a mother, a father and any children they may have. I think we have pretty much let go of traditional assignment of roles in the family. Instead, each family negotiates among themselves how to divide the work.

Values:
Commitment for life is disappearing in favor of serial monogamy. I personally do not embrace this change. Divorce and the blending of families that ensues takes a toll on children. With shared custody, children must adapt to two sets of house rules. They quickly learn what they can get away with, and often play one parent against the other to get what they want.
If marriage partners placed a higher value on commitment and working through their relationship challenges, the children would learn valuable conflict resolution skills and enjoy a more stable life.

Answer 6

'Traditional' suggests pre-nuclear family, which I think was two parents with 2.5 children. The nuclear family was two parents with one child.
Which values? Strong work ethic, fidelity to mate and family unit? Yes, save those. But as roles have HAD to change, preserving the roles each gender performed would be unrealistic. Today's families may be made of two same-gendered persons with adopted kids, or blended families (that divorce rate hasn't come down much over the decades), all mixtures of composition are before us now.
My upbringing was traditional, but that mom worked full time also (she was a stay at home mom for the children before me). I was a LatchKey child, great fun, but not as healthy as having the boundaries that mom would've given, had she been home.
Good luck! Great topic, subject
I have a BA in Soc.

Answer 7

I do think the values of the traditional family should be saved! The values consisted of a man and a woman in a commited relationship and the two people involved supported each other through thick and thin. They raised their children to have morals, to be sensitive to others and to be polite. It seems we have lost these values. Children in the traditional family respected their parents and their elders and knew that if they did something wrong, there would be consequences for it. This produced adults who were in turn respectful of others and knew what commitment really meant. While things have changed greatly in our world, the basic values should remain. I think the loss of these values is why we have so many depressed, anxiety ridden children who seem lost and confused in this world and society. Everyone needs some stability in their lives. Even with blended families, these basic traditional values would work.

Answer 8

What I consider to be the "traditional family" is the way that God intended the family to be: a man and a wife who are committed to their marriage for life, who are equals, who have children and raise them to be good people, etc.

There are some elements of what most societies accept as the traditional family that make it acceptable for men to dominate women. It's good that society has recognized that domination by men is wrong. However, it's not good that women have largely abandoned their natural roles as mothers in pursuit of "equality".



I'm attaching an image that presents "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". It's definitely worth reading.

Answer 9

The traditional family was built of a man who worked all day. His socially and emotionally repressed wife and kids saw nothing but what the parents showed them--and a dog named Fido. Times have changed. One income cannot support a family comfortably. Families are practically forced into having multiple workers in the household. In order to give themselves and their children the lives they deserve, it is almost imperative that both parents work.

Back in the "traditional" family, the man was king, and the wife was his servant. Gender roles have changed, though, giving more and more liberation to the female, allowing her to make her own choices instead of being a puppet.

Answer 10

traditional family is little house on the prairie.
modern traditional family is Roseanne except they are divorced and share custody.