10 family characteristics

The concept of family has evolved in parallel with society. But its essence remains the same. Therefore, today we find various concepts and definitions of the family.

His study focuses on the relevant aspects to understand the dynamics of the family throughout the historical period. Each study has served to understand which elements and characteristics prevail in the family.

What are the characteristics of the family?

It is obvious that at birth our first social contact is with the family and the members that include it. Therefore, the family is defined as the minimum social unit consisting of father, mother and children. Although, there may also be extended families where there are more members such as grandparents, uncles or cousins ​​or even being single parents.

Among the most relevant family characteristics are:

1. It is a group where people are usually close, as they live together and share time together, allowing the creation of affective bonds between them.
2. In addition, it fulfills the role of training the smallest individual (children) to be able to face the outside world, including learning values ​​and social morality. Each society, depending on its location, has cultural patterns and idiosyncrasies, which must be learned in order to function in said society. Since inevitably these cultural elements, social and economic laws condition education and the perception of the surrounding.
3. At birth, our first social contact is with the family. These members are a group of people who have a degree of kinship, said kinship is divided into three according to the legal system, which are by consanguinity or people who descend from the same parent, kinship by affinity or by relationship that exists between the spouse and the blood relatives of the spouse and by civil kinship, which is the adoption.
4. According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN) it emphasizes that the family must comply with the duty to provide protection, sustenance and everything that entails. Thus, as the necessary assistance so that children can assume their responsibilities within society.
5. The family from a very young age always instills values ​​in children, so that from an early age they begin to form solid foundations and moral criteria for their formation in the coming years as a responsible adult.



6. In the family, the religion exercised by it influences the conception of good and evil. Well, religion is the basis of moral judgment.
7. The concept of family is directly changing with society. Well, there is a symbiosis between the various systems that make up society.
8. The family was not always polygamous. Until half a century ago it was common to see a man with more than one woman, fidelity being a contribution only from the woman and not from the man (polygyny).
9. Has an economic organization
10. It can be single-parent: In the case that a child, for example, lives alone with his father or mother.

What is the family?

The word family etymologically comes from the Latin "familus" translated into Spanish means "servant that belongs to a master". It is closely linked to an authority councilor and a slave owner who was originally the woman. When entering modernity and the industrial revolution, this aspect changed, making its mark on the community that has lasted to this day.

It was also common for the boss, usually the man, to generate income. Thus, the woman was in charge of taking care of the home and they acquired the responsibility of raising the children. The change begins when the church assumes control of sexuality and dictates the monogamous nature of both parties and the insolubility of the marriage bond.

In broad terms, it could be said that the family is the group of people through relationships over time. It will grow according to their interests and life projects with a view to forming the home they always wanted. To do this, they take into account the availability of income, to support the family nucleus, anticipating any type of lack both for them and for future creatures.

importance of family

The most important thing in the family is not the degree of legal kinship or consanguinity relations. But it is the point when the family with children begins to grow and parents have to redirect their focus and focus on performance as a person to be able to guide, raise.

It is also important in terms of social integration. The family from the initial years by means of games and recreational activities achieve that the mind of the child acquires norms and rules. In order to achieve a healthy coexistence allowing them to develop as a social being.

Due to the constant historical change of the family, this community or institution formed by transformations of a social and cultural nature, different styles of family life have emerged. Currently, new paradigms are gaining momentum, as exemplified by the homoparental family.

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