Happy families: The non-nuclear options
As National Family Week begins, The IoS celebrates the rise of British diversity. Jonathan Owen reports
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
Old, young, gay, straight, married or single – our families are a celebration of the diversity of our nation. But while the families have never been more diverse and inclusive, they are also under pressure to an unprecedented degree.
The traditional nuclear family – Mum, Dad, 2.4 children – is a shrinking minority. In less than 40 years, the proportion of households fitting this description has dropped from 52 per cent to 36 per cent, according to the latest social trends report from the Office for National Statistics. "The nature of family life has changed significantly in the past 40 years. The traditional family has become a museum piece," said Dr Richard Woolfson, a family expert and child psychologist.
From tomorrow, the UK celebrates its first National Family Week, which will see hundreds of thousands of people taking part in events around the country, from picnics and sports days to "storytime" events.
More than 150 bodies, ranging from the Department for Children, Schools and Families to the Grandparents' Association, will celebrate and attempt to kick-start a more family-friendly culture, encouraging parents to spend more time with their children.
But according to new research published tomorrow, more than half of the parents questioned admit they don't spend enough quality time as a family, with work, money and housework blamed most often for this.
Family meals, watching TV, holidays and shopping are Britain's favourite family pastimes. Just 3 per cent cited reading stories, according to a survey of 2,000 parents. One in five of families define themselves as a "TV & Digital Family", spending time together by watching television or playing video games. Only 11 per cent see themselves as a "Foodie Family", where family life revolves around mealtimes.
Kevin Steele, co-founder of National Family Week, said: "Families come in all shapes and sizes, but what matters is the quality of the relationships. There are very powerful tensions between family life, long working hours and the need to generate enough money to fund a modern-day lifestyle."
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
Agree with your comments.
This modernity view of the 'rights of the individual' over the 'rights of society' was in some part a brain child of Ishiah Berlin and others like him from the last century.
Ultimately, it comes down to a shift in viewpoint, liberation is thinking about today and short terms gains, whereas traditional conservative living is about making some sarcifices but getting long term gains and happiness.
The nuclear-family is essential to our survival as a people. Please, don't undermine the value the 'natural process' in preference to celebrating other sexual choices in life.
There is something that seems to be unsaid, even by those who claim to represent the "gay community" - sexuality is not a choice! You are what you are. I am a gay man, but frankly wished I'd been straight. Life would have been so much easier. But, I refused to pretend to be who I'm not - that would be a fraud to myself and any woman I may have ended up marrying, having children with etc.
Bigots, like some of those who have commented here imply, or perhaps naively believe that people one day just decides to be gay. For those who make such comments who are truly straight and not, as often is the case are those who conceal repressed sexual feelings of their own, you need to just get real and move on.
Mr Brown has called Mr Blaire to explain how to send more troops as he realised the Obama will ask him in turn. Will NASA say sorry here? Did Brown say sorry promptly?
Things go missing. It's to be expected. Even at the Pentagon. Last October, the Pentagon's inspector general reported that the military's accountants had misplaced a destroyer, several tanks and armored personnel carriers, hundreds of machine guns, rounds of ammo, grenade launchers and some surface-to-air missiles. In all, nearly $8 billion in weapons were AWOL.
At the bottom of a good deal of the bravery that appears in the world, there lurks a miserable cowardice. Men will face powder and steel because they cannot face public opinion. -Edwin Hubbel Chapin, minister and orator (1814-1880)
I thank you
Firozali A.Mulla
Indulging past ways of life has not much effect in making future.
There are also many wrong values concepts that a traditional family forces up on us, lack of independency, religion, sexuality, abuse, punishment... we need a cultural change of values and leaving behind the very concept of family is one of them.
With lunatic views like that you should run for elected office.
Have you read '1984'; might be just your thing. To train the citizens of Oceania for complete submission and devotion to Big Brother and the Party the family bond has been completely devalued, as:
"No one dares trust a wife or husband, a child or a friend any longer."
The Junior Spies are an organization in which children have become the police and denouncers of their parents in the name of Big Brother. By this means, the Party has managed to wedge itself between one of the most powerful instinctual bonds to turn parental devotion into fear and children into faithful machines of the Party as an extension of the Thought Police.
Nice.
As is so often the case the Independent seems to be stuck in the student politics of the 1980s
Lets all give a big round of applause for the liberal establishments experiments at giving the 'alternatve' lifestyle almost priority over the established natural state of affairs.
Why just look at its success in this country.......
More people on antidepressants than anywhere else in europe
Gangs of useless feral youths roaming around in packs like wolves
sickening levels of crime
Child abuse....nearly always seem to come from dysfunctionals
Chronic levels of drug,and alcohol abuse
I could go on
Yes-well done the liberal establishment what a success you have been.
Oh well, cynical or not it seems to sum up the situation quite nicely.
You could also add too your list that this so-called 'liberal establishment' seems to encourage the 'every person for themselves', "I'm alright Jack, f**k you" attitude.
What has this article got to do with Fascism, race or sexuality?
"Your Beliefs become your Thoughts;
Your Thoughts become your Words;
Your Words become your Actions;
Your Actions become your Habits;
Your Habits become your Values; and
Your Values become your Destiny"
Also - looking at your examples, has there been much improvement? I'd be very surprised indeed if there were only 2,700 London girls today with serious venereal disease; only modern medicine is keeping them out of hospital. As for age of consent; yep, it should be at least 16 but in various places in Europe it is still 13 and 14 (source: Wikipedia). I think there is a lot to be said for supporting the family.
It was a forced family - my parents probably realised they should never have got married shortly after my brother was born. Tradition held sway and they stayed together, unhappily, for another 15 years.
I'd far rather they had divorced when I was a toddler, because quite honestly, thier relationship permeated the entire families relationship.
Subsquently, my partner and I have decided to never have kids, both being of a similar generation.
This means we get to continue to enjoy our lives without the burdens our parents had. I'm sure there will be some regrets in years to come, but right now, I'm anticipating another 30 to 40 years of adventure, without the added burden of child rearing.
There is a potential life not created each time one uses contraception, or even simply abstains from having sex; following your reasoning on what constitutes honourable behaviour, it is equally possible to argue that each of these never-to-be-conceived potential humans is being cruelly denied the chance of life.
Two interesting statistics I read today; the average 5 to 18 year old spends 6 hours per day watching TV, playing video games and on the internet (very globalised). also, the average teenager spends 3 hours per week watching pornography. Presumably this will have an impact on their own family values; though I've no idea what sort.
To the best of my knowledge, the ONS data is specific to reconstituted families, and single-parent families- not 'non-traditional parenting' in general.
And the report certainly isn't attempting to demonstrate a causal link between the two. After all, the children from single-parent and reconstituted families will frequently have had to endure their parents' divorce: this fact alone could account for the higher prevalence of mental illness in these groups.
My point is, firstly, you're mis-using the statistics to make a pretty sweeping generalisation: the data doesn't cover other 'non-traditional' child-rearing relationships, such as children brought up by gay couples. Secondly, you're then again mis-using the statistics to infer a causal relationship where none is necessarily implied.
Andrew
The concept of the nuclear family, in which Mummy stays at home while Daddy works, and everyone has home-cooked meals together every day just hasn't been the reality for the majority of people for the majority of our history.
It never ceases to amaze me how well we mythologise our pasts, personally and culturally. We're really amazingly good at it.
This has left me deeply screwed up, with chronic bipolar disorder, and a shed load of meds I'll have to take until the day I die. I have serious issues with trust, belonging, and bonding, and I've given up hope on ever having a lasting relationship with a woman myself because I never had any role models wherer I could have gleamed some hints how this is supposed to work.
Not to mention, despite being quite intelligent, I had emotional and behavioural issues at school that prevented me from realizing my potential, and I'm reduced to menial work here and there instead of having a stable, rewarding career.
You can have your "progress" back. There is a reason the "man, woman, child" model was around for thousands of years before... IT WORKS.
Your cheerleading for "alternative" families is incitement to grievous harm for the children that will be affected by it.. such as myself.
North Korea Conducts Nuclear Test, South Korea Says
North Korea conducted a nuclear test on Monday, South Korea's
Yonhap news agency quoted a ruling party official as saying.
Yonhap reported that President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea
called an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers over the test.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
According to Kevin Steele relationships depend on "long working hours and the need to generate enough money to fund a modern-day lifestyle." Powerful tensions between them and family life is a matter of definition. Parents and siblings or lack of them are a given, liittle kids adjust to one way or another. However mates must be chosen carefully as you know what really matters to them and hoped for children when 2 people consider starting a family together. Agree on a lifestyle fitting both best rather than subjecting yourself to whatever benefits only vendors of services and stuff you can do without.
24 hours per day are a given regardless how much or little they earn. $$ don't define the quality of time. What distinguishes working hours from the rest of the day? Compensation? Coaching little league or soccer teams can either way be fun or a bore.
Statistics indicate that every other new marriage ends in divorce. Millions of eligible singles afraid to tie the knot risk doomed relationships. Trading pork bellies serves economic need but may not be kosher. Major Commodity Exchanges are obviously much better regulated than financial markets. Why don't risktakers starting a family in wedded bliss limit potential exit cost preventing ruineous litigatation? That's risk commodity traders can't afford.