Text 2 The American Family

Most American families consist of a mother, a father, and three or four children living at home. This familiar structure is known as the “nuclear family”. It is unusual for members of the family other than the husband, wife, and children to live together. Occasionally an aging grandparent may live with the family, but it is considered undesirable. Visiting between parents and their married children and between married sisters and brothers is frequent when they live close to each other. If they live in different communities, they keep in touch by writing letters and by telephone.

In American family the husband and the wife usually make important decisions together. When the children are old enough, they participate as well. Children are often allowed to do what they wish without strict parent control. The father seldom expects his children to obey him without question, and children are encouraged to be independent at an early age. Young people break away from their parental families in their late teens or early twenties.

This pattern of independence often results in serious problems for the aging parents of a nuclear family. The job-retirement age is 65. The children have left home, married, and set up their own households. Elderly couples feel useless and lonely with neither an occupation nor a close family group. Many communities and church groups sponsor centers for “senior citizens”. At these centers older men and women can make friends and participate in a variety of planned activities, including games, trips, lectures, and discussion groups. These programs may help some old people, but they do not provide the complete solution to the problem of old age.

Ex.1 Answer the questions:

1. Do you think it’s easier to be a father or a mother?

2. Do you think you could put an aging parent into an old-age house?

3. Do you think grown-up children and parents should live together?

4. What problems face single-parent families?

5. What are the main reasons for the conflicts between different generations?

6. Did you or any of your family have to be away from each other for any length of time? Did you miss each other?