Positive and negative sides of family life

Positive and negative sides of family life

It is impossible to imagine our life without family. Family is believed by many people to
be the most important thing in their life while other people consider it differently.
Traditionally, a dictionary defines “family” as a basic social unit consisting of parents
and their children. In human context, a “family” (Latin: familia) is a group of people affiliated
by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage), or co-residence/ shared
consumption. Sociologists believe family as an institution and a unit of socialization. According
to Anthropological view, “family” refers to the web of social relationships that form an
important part of the lives of most humans in most of the societies.
There are many different views on family life. Some people could not do without the
support and love of their families. Others say it is the source of most of our problems and
anxieties. Whatever the truth is, the family is definitely a powerful symbol. Turn on the
television or open a magazine and you will see advertisements featuring happy, balanced
families. Politicians often try to win votes by standing for ‘family values”: respect for parental
authority, stability in marriage, chastity and care for the elderly.
Sociologists divide families into two general types: the nuclear family and the extended
family, which may include three or more generations living together. In industrialized countries,
and increasingly in the large cities of developing countries, the nuclear family is regarded as
normal. Most people think of it as consisting of two parents and two children. In fact, the number
of households containing a nuclear family is shrinking year by year.
People in different cultures all over the world have different system for family life. In
most cultures, people live in extended families, in which several generations share the same
house. However, in others, the nuclear family is the norm, with only the parents and young
children sharing the same house. In Russia and many other countries, some couples are
experimenting with still another system of family life: living together. On the positive side,
living together might reduce the divorce rate; on the negative side, it might lead to the eventual
disintegration of the family unit altogether. If this new system becomes widespread, it could
have enormous effects on society.
There are people who say that the family unit is in crisis and that traditional family life is
a thing of the past. This is of great concern to those who think a healthy society is dependent
upon a stable family life. They see many indications that the family is in decline, in such things
as the acceptance of sex before marriage, the increased of one-parent families, the current high
divorce rate and what they see as a lack of discipline within the family. Some politicians blame
social problems, such as drug taking and juvenile crime, on a disintegrating family life.

There is no definition of a “normal” family. Broadly speaking, the family is a group of
people related by blood or law, living together or associating with one another for a common
purpose. That purpose is usually to provide shelter and food, and to bring up children. The nature
of the family keeps changing; there are a number of types of family that exist in a society at any
one time.
It has been frequently reported that divorce rate reaches 50% of total marriages. Many
couples choose alternative of living together as family life for its benefit to reduce divorce rate.
Living together is seen as alternative for the couple to cope with the divorce for system of the
living together does not require them to endure strong commitment along their life relation. This
system might free those couple from whole life obligations they have to carry out in order to
keep the relation united. Furthermore, living together offers flexibilities for the couple to
experience; firstly, flexibility of family roles that might lead them to choose particular role they
would like to act out, and second flexibility that deals with their choice to have no children. In
brief, less commitment and flexibilities are two main elements offered the system of living
together that might be reasons of the decreasing number of divorce in the United States.
Living together might also harm American society for it might lead to the eventual
disintegration of the family unit altogether. The eventual disintegration firstly is due to living
together acted by many couple in the United State might have destroyed the meaning of family
itself. The concept of family is established primarily by marriage where man and woman are
united as husband and wife, and later become father and mother of their children. Secondly, the
system of family life in living together clouds the roles of each member in family. Regarding to
the system, it seems to be difficult for mentioning the man as a husband and the woman as a
wife, and who will be the leader and responsible person of the family. The disintegration of the
family life is also constituted thirdly by the absence of the following generation. When the
system of living together allows the couple to prevent of having children for the less
commitment they commit, problems of having following generations have been obvious. In
short, disintegration indicators which are shown by the lost of family meaning, the absence
member’s role in family life, and the lack of young generation might lead to the most critical
condition; the lost of family life system either the extended or the nuclear family.
There are both advantages and disadvantages of family life and effects of a family on
relations.
So, first of all, let’s talk about benefits of a large family after that I
will elaborate some bad effects or you can say the disadvantages of the large family too.
There are many advantages or good effects of a large family. First of all, it is a happy
place to live in. because there are so many people in the family you can share

your happiness and sorrows with anyone in the family you like. You will have so many
suggestions and help to solve your problems. All the people share their experiences and everyone
learns from others experiences.
On the other hand, one can say, that the large family always helps if it is supportive, in
everywhere if we have a large family we can survive better at any place. For example, if you
have a big family here in shape of friends, you can survive here better as they will guide you
about everything, they will suggest you to do whatever you should do here.
There are so many people to earn, the total cost becomes low and you can save a lot.
In large families responsibilities of children are not just for the parents, older children can help
the smaller ones to dress uniform of school properly; school homework is done properly, the
manners of sitting etc. In this way, a child gets a special feeling of belonging to the family. They
tend to be more responsible especially who are born first, as they are required to take care of
the younger children.
Another benefit of having an extended family is the consistency which it brings to the
children. They get positive emotional development like they learned consistency by their elders,
as the elders are matured and their behave with the younger teach them all the qualities of elders.
When the large family gathered on a dining table, they talk about their issues,
their happiness and discuss each matter of life. So, this is the time when the younger get trained
to face all the problems of coming life.
Grandparents also offer their support and guidance. In the bigger or larger families,
children learn how to patience on their demands when it does not fulfill immediately as the
parents are not able to provide everything to every child as they demand.
Children from bigger families are more social. On the other hand, the only child in
the family gets a lot of love and attention. Start taking everything for granted and become
sported. Bigger family’s children are friendlier, as they can share their problems with
other siblings and have someone to play with.
There are also some disadvantages of having large families. First of all, there is hardly
any privacy. It is hard to have any time alone. The most important problem a bigger family has
to face is the financial problem a large family often has more expenses than a small family. It is
not easy to live in a large family. With a small family, there are more opportunities as it is easier
to have only one or two children in activities, there are fewer chances for conflicts. Another
advantage of the small family, children get more attention from their parents and compared to
the large family, it is easy to bear little family expenses.
The other disadvantage of a large family is, it is very hard to organize outdoor
activities for a whole family, and if we have more than 15 members of the family then it really

gets complicated to manage a party for them. Sometimes it's got a more critical situation when
you are going outside with a large family and you have to travel from one place to another.\
The financial problem is a big trouble in the big families. The parents really need to work
hard and a lot for they can support the expenses of their family. The
most miserable problem with the big families is that sometimes parents may have their favorites
and love them more than the others. The disadvantage of a short family is that parents
sometimes overprotective and overly attentive, about their children. They really not letting them
explore or play at times. It can be dangerous for the mental growth of the baby.
In conclusion, the new system of living together is beneficially supposed to sustain the
unity of marriage while in others see that this new system might precisely collapse the concepts
of family life which already exist. The two views of advantage and disadvantage of living
together might be taken as basis of reason for the young couple to endure the new family life as
their choice accordingly constitutes to integration of family life altogether.
But, it goes without saying, that the advantage of a big family is that if you are
in trouble you can have the help from them and you can help them. You can get supported by
them. Whether the family is large or small the thing which makes lives beautiful is
the understanding kindness, love, and respect for others. If these things exist in every relation it
will be more precious and beautiful to live with it. The honor, Etiquettes and the manners are
more essentials for family members to get respect back from a society and your
own family persons. It shows your morality to others, how you behave
in public place or outside of your house.

Sources

1. https://myenglish01.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/living-together-the-positive-and-negative-
effect/#_ftn1
2. https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-positive-and-negative-effects-has-your-family-have-in-
your-life
3. https://englishadviser.ru/ege/esse/the-most-important-thing-in-life-is-family
4. https://essayexample.info/essay-about-family/
5. https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-family
6. http://robotlibrary.com/book/10-anglijskij-yazyk-dlya-studentov-universitetov/4-lesson-2-
home.html
7. https://www.bitlanders.com/blogs/large-family-benefits-disadvantages/5519507