FAMILY DIVERSITY

FAMILY DIVERSITY

An extended family is a group consisting of more than two generations of relatives living either within the same household or very close to one another. The extended family consists not only of the basic HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Family” o “Family” family unit of HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Parent” o “Parent” parents and their HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Child” o “Child” children but includes other adults and children with kinship ties. Extended families can include: grandparents, spouses of children, cousins, aunts, uncles. The extended family also includes step children and their kin in cases when there has been second or more marriages. People living together as an extended family occasionally feel a greater security and belonging. This is an advantage of extended type of family because this family contains more people to serve as resources and provides more role models for behavior of values. The disadvantage of living in an extended type of family is shouldering more expenses for their basic needs.

American families are associated with this diversity. The traditional family has undergone numerous changes with factors such as divorce, remarriage, early pregnancy and changes in social values that have led to these changes. The American families of an extended nature comprises of the traditional nuclear family with husband, wife and children; joint-custody families of divorced parents sharing child custody; cohabiting families where unmarried men and women may or may not be sharing responsibility of raising children. Others include: single-parent families, homo-sexual families headed by gays or lesbians, and grandparents parenting grandchildren, due to the illness, death or non-involvement of the parent.

The American family can be looked into different perspectives as: black or white, large or small, wealthy or poor, or somewhere in between, a father-headed, mother-headed, or childless family, first or second time around, happy or miserable. The first thing to remember about the American family is that it doesn’t exist but families do exist in all kinds of economic and marital situations, as all of us can see and witness. At times families, can be formed in many different ways but, it is important to remember that most families accomplish similar tasks such as child up bring, providing for basic needs, socializing members, establishing family traditions and delegating duties amongst the members.

VALUES OF THE EXTENDED FAMILY

Although industrialization has led to the increase of HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nuclear_family” o “Nuclear family” nuclear families as the unit of many societies, the extended family continues to play an important role in the society. The extended family becomes valuable in contemporary society when young adults face HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Unemployment” o “Unemployment” unemployment or divorce, or when older adults become widowed or face declining health and consequent lack of ability to care for themselves and their house. In most American families social welfare provisions made the extended family less essential for the elderly in the 20th Century .However, reductions in government funding for such services may make the role of the extended family take on greater importance again in the 21st Century. This is especially with the low income groups, including single-parent households, benefit greatly from the involvement of grandparents. It helps built the lesson that although people differ, they are related hence treat one another with respect, appreciation, and love based on their common bond being the family. Unlike in the nuclear family it’s all about proliferation of ideas of individualism.

The extended family provides a number of adults with a strong HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Family” o “Family” family base providing a haven of HYPERLINK “http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Love” o “Love” love and intimacy. It offers maximum opportunities for personal growth through its relationships between spouse, parents, grandparents, siblings, and children.

An extended family is a strong family that provides a social support network for its members to be able to rely on in times of stress. The extended family is superior to the nuclear family in many cultures and also expanding the family dynamic inter-generationally as grandparents offer a unique form of support to the family. For instance, when a newly married couple, establishes their own nuclear family far away from their parents isolation from their extended family may prove stressful. Families in which three generations interact in close harmony provide greater support for raising children, connecting them to their family traditions and giving value to their lineage.

FAMILIES UNIQUE NEED AND SCHOOL RESPONSE TO THIS DIVERSITY

Membership in a family can be decided only by each member of that family. It is the role of early teachers to be aware of who constitutes a child’s family and not to define the child’s family for them. Hence teachers should not try to alter a family’s view about its member in that family. Some factors that make families different from one another include: Ethnicity, race, culture, economy and geographical origin. It is important that these differences are considered in order to increase understanding on the part of teachers.

Ethnicity refers to a concept of a group of people based on a combination of race, religion, and cultural history. It describes a similarity transmitted by the family over generations. It is more than race, religion or national geographic origin. McGoldrick (1989). States that it involves conscious and unconscious processes that fulfill a deep psychological need for identity and historical continuity. Ethnicity is sustained through unique family customs, proverbs and stories, norms and taboos, celebrations, foods and religious ceremonies. Differences have been noted between the notions of self-concept and ethnic identity. Families often find it difficult to instill ethnic pride in their children mostly amongst the pluralistic society.

Culture refers to the unique aspects of life and history of various ethnic groups. Cultural differences often indicate differences in views on the family and the community, differences in expectations of children, differences in child up brings and differences in the values placed on education. Carol (1995) notes that teachers need to have an understanding about how culture is transmitted and how it is not transmitted. Teachers should note that culture is learned not biological as they cannot identify a family’s culture by how the family members look but each individual learns his culture’s rules through daily living. For instance, table manners, interpersonal interactions and ways of demonstrating respect. An individual’s characteristics are both cultural and individual while the unique personality traits are not culturally based. Cultural behaviors are based in groups thus culture is characteristic of groups. Individuals are entitled to different degrees within a culture. Some families and individuals place more emphasis on cultural traditions than do others. Teachers should not expect all people of one culture to be equally involved with their cultural rules. Therefore, some cultures may place greater emphasis on individuality or conformity than others.

Members of a family may be associated in certain cultural behavior but unable to describe the rules. This is because young children begin to learn their culture in their own home environments thus, behaviors seem natural to them. Not only can they not tell you why they engage in these behaviors, but also likely they are not conscious of all of the behaviors they have learned from their culture. Teachers would find it convenient to consider not only race, but also ethnicity and culture. It is more likely that knowledge of Socio-cultural factors would provide greater understanding to teachers than information about physical differences. Thus, including understanding of racial differences is most useful in the context of cultural and ethnic differences as well. Sometimes teachers unintentionally emphasize differences among groups of people and the effect is an insult rather than respectful toward diversity.

In the contemporary United States, families have vastly different experiences related to income and other resources. The Children’s Defense Fund has reported that in 1998, 22.7 percent of children under age six in the United States lived in poverty. For various ethnic groups, this proportion is even higher. There is no mystery about how to help families off welfare and out of poverty. States must provide the education, training, and work experience that parents need to compete for jobs with decent wages. In most cases teacher understanding of diversity does not include differences by family income or the traditional term, social class. Yet, financial resources have a tremendous impact on families, their practices, and their values. All parents are aware that poverty is a threat to children. Families living with scarce resources have had to learn the importance of meeting children’s most basic needs. States also need to remove the obstacles that often prevent parents from leaving welfare for work, lack of health care, transportation and child care.

Teachers or schools to positively respond to the family’s diversity, their main goal for understanding is to provide an inclusive environment. In that each child and family can feel a sense of belonging, no matter what similarities or differences they have with others in the group. This is a goal difficult to achieve because of many societal factors. As teachers plan for their groups of children and as they set their classroom rules and policies, checking for inclusiveness must be part of the process. The important act is what teachers will do when they realize that their classrooms are not inclusive.

In conclusion, families are different in many ways. It is important that teachers and schools work to increase their understanding of differences in families and interact with these differences sensitively. Teachers should accept the differences in families in which each child comes from and create a feeling of belonging for the celebration of diversity in families. Family members who view themselves as very different from teachers and other school personnel are less likely to be involved in their children’s education. Teachers should create an environment that encourages various types of family involvement so that children benefits from home and school participation. The roles that family and community play varies because of culture and ethnicity. It is frequently noted that in the United States, ethnic groups that are not dominant in the culture are more strongly influenced by extended families.

REFERENCES:

Hale, J. Black children: Their roots, culture, and learning styles (Rev. ed.).

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986.

McDade, K. How we parent: Race and ethnic differences.

New York: Garland, 1995.

McGoldrick, M. Ethnicity and the family life cycle. In B. Carter & M. McGoldrick

(Eds.), the changing family life cycle (2nd ed.). Needham Heights, MA, 1989

Rank, M. R. (Living on the edge: The realities of welfare in America.

New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press, 1994.

Pauline I. E. Family diversity: continuity and change in the contemporary family.

Sage publications, USA.2002.

Zinn, M. B., & Eitzen, D. S.). Diversity in American families.

New York: Harper & Row, 1987.