Describe and Discuss The Topic Of Family Values (Essay Sample)

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FAMILY VALUES
What is family? It’s the unity of certain people with the similar views and living positions, equal principles and values. Family values are the traditional set of standards and customs which are created by certain family for its emotional and physical wellbeing. They are usually sustained by religious beliefs and traditions of the family (Duffy, S., Defining Your Family's Values). Family values are usually passed from one generation to another and are changed only under the influence of the certain family and its seeing of life. One can determine family values in marriage or commitment, spirituality and emotional balance, beliefs and responsibilities, common interests and activities. For someone real family value is the possibility to make decisions all together and share the beliefs. In any way only family establishes its own traditions and values.
It’s usually considered that each family has such basic tasks in life as love, play and work. The balance of all the tasks makes people’s life less stressful, brings satisfaction of what they do. In the recent years, family values have being changed under the influence of increase of nontraditional families (Perry, T.). Single mothers or fathers, who have outside of marriage children are norms, throw a shadow on the traditional values, which such families simply don’t possess. Parents of such families are blamed for different social problems, such as unemployment, and the children for bad school rates, impossibility for appropriate socialization and even for increase of juvenile crimes. That’s why in the recent years governmental programs and policies have being created to rally traditional family structure and support family values. As traditional marriage was formed historically, public policies advocated racism and acted to force black families to create different from the traditional family structures. During the years after slavery, families with single black mothers were norms, because of the different factors (husbands were killed or died, people moved from one place to another in search of work). That’s why through years, it’s being usual to perceive black families as those who failed in creating values and morality. But still one may hope black families to develop traditional their values notwithstanding the political and economic realities.
Society faces the other problems today- that is the whites’ single mothers. By their structure, single mothers’ families influence on the society by the impossibility to pass on good family values. There is a belief that such families are responsible for the changes in the costs of welfare of the society. They are subsidized by the government, which gives the middle class families tax benefits, mortgage interest deductions, and educational loan assistance. When such families live on welfare, it’s clear that such disempowered individuals don’t fulfill their potential in the society and don’t use the opportunities or benefits which society may give them.
Family values also include the question of gender and race dominance. Historically, male was considered to be the head of the family and it was not simply a function of the law, but was rooted in the culture. But in modern society single woman can obtain certain measure of economic independence from man, which of course bears a little different family value for the community she lives in. Modern single mothers don’t live with the assumptions that bearing of children should be connected with the marriage. On the contrary, with the possibilities of surrogate motherhood or adoption an idea of having baby in the family with no man is clear. Moreover, there is no obvious consensus in the government what is considered to be the norm for the individual family and values they choose.
Full families or those with the single parent wish to see their children to be happy and live in prosperity. Social class plays great role on how these goals can be achieved in certain family. Parents of middle class bring up their children through identifying their talents and skills, discussing different life situations and preparing their kids to the life challenges. They take active part in numerous activities motivating their children to reach best results. Such activities promote individual development of children. It is worth to mention also the employment status of the middle class parents. Along with the paying attention to their children, parents of the middle class are extremely busy and work much in order to provide their families with the all necessary things. Parents in working-class or poor families care for their children, setting certain limits for them, but allow children to grow spontaneously. Poor families are not inclined to draw their children to the organized activities; they instead often play outside or watch television. Working class parents live under certain instructions and teach their children to adhere them, not reasoning children of the purpose of such instructions. The working class and poor parents renounce school and health care institutions. They are fearful about the possible consequences for their children and themselves. Children grow up with the feeling of enforcement in these families. While struggling severe economic shortages in the everyday life, poor people usually don’t pay much attention to the developing of family values. Facing difficulties, they don’t promote positive attitude of their children to the surrounding. Working class and poor families can’t allow themselves college education or white collar careers in the future. They usually support their children, but have no idea how the educational process is organized and thus value of good education and its importance to the life is not instilled. On the contrary, obtaining higher education is am important factor for the middle class. One can’t state for sure that it’s impossible for the working class to obtain college education, but the experience they got often speaks about their conflict with their identity. While they value family roots, they also experience the educational success. They value the obtained education, and in the next generation it is transformed into the family values. Educated people are inclined to follow the socialized way of life sustaining Christian values in their families. They instill their children such values as love to everyone and to God, respect and tolerance in marriage, the impatience to violence. Families with Christian values act against sexual content in movies and television in general. They instill their children feeling of good and purity.
In the 21st century family values should be called to support cultural variety and tolerance to the other nationalities, race and religions as never before. Special organizations, institutions and association are created for remembering and preserving the traditional family values. Having the religious basis, they preach the holiness of marriage and believe that faith in marriage is vital. Under the influence of modern society it is important to instill teenagers and young adults the moral values in order to avoid sexual contact until after they are married. The facts of early pregnancy, pornography watching or sexually transmitted diseases speak about the absence of such education and absence of values of family. The institution of the family which is a union of ...