Activity Five

When I think about the word family, I can't help but think about my own family. I am a very family-oriented person, so my family means everything to me. My family consists of my dad, mom, and I have a younger sister. I think of my family as more of a traditional family, since it's the two parents and children. When I think of family, I think about trust, love, eternal bonds, support, laughter, crying, and complaining. These are just some good words to describe my family.
For the assignment of thinking about "The Family in the U.S.A," I thought about how much times have changed. In the past, people were getting married and starting their families at young ages. Today, more people are waiting longer to get married and have children. Also, in the past, people had more children and had larger families than what we have today. For example, my grandmother had seven children and each of those children had either two, one, or no kids of their own. That just shows how much of a difference one generation can make.
In the past, the mother was the one to stay at home and take care of the children, while the father went to work. I have seen many changes in that way of family life. Even though it is still around, there are more women and mothers who have full-time careers today. In many families today, both parents work and the children get taken to daycare or to a babysitter. There are also families that have a stay at home father, while the mother goes and works a full-time job. In today's world, more people take advantage of these different family-life options and aren't sticking to how thing use to be or are "supposed to be." A family does not always have to be made up of a dad, mom and children. There are a lot of families where there is only a mom or only a dad; or there are families where there are two dads or two moms. Just by writing and thinking about family in the U.S had opened my eyes to how much things have changed over time.