6.Занятие – Лекция
THE CHANGING AMERICAN FAMILY.
The American family unit is in the process of change.
There used to be mainly two types of families: the extended and the nuclear.
The extended family most often included mother, father, children, and some other
relatives, such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby. Then as
job patterns changed and the economy progressed from agricultural to
industrial, people were forced to move to different parts of the country for
job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family .
The nuclear family become more prevalent; this
consisted only of the parents and the children.
In the American family the husband and wife usually
share important decision making. When the children are old enough, they participate
as well. Foreign observers are frequently amazed by the permissiveness of
American parents. The old rule that " children
should be seen and not heard" is rarely followed, and children are often
allowed to do what they wish without strict parental control. The father seldom
expects his children to obey him without question, and children are encouraged
to be independent at early age. Some people believe that American parents carry
this freedom too far. Young people are expected to break away from their
parental families by the time they have reached their late teens or early
twenties.
Now, besides these
two types of traditional groupings, the word " family"
is being extended to include a variety of other living arrangements. Today's
family can be made up diverse combinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in
two, there is an increase in single- parent homes : a
father or mother living with one or more children. Blended families occur when
previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from
former marriages into a new family. On the other hand, some couples are
deciding not to have any children at all, so there is an increase in two-person
childless families. There are also more people who live alone: single, widowed,
divorced. Now, one in five Americans lives alone. Reunions are diverse in
nature like the families themselves. They may be held in private homes or in
parks, restaurants, and churches. Independence Day is a favourite
get-together date, but reunions are also organized around birthdays,
anniversaries, and other joyous occasions. They are generally centered around food, with members contributing dishes that are
special to the family. At the same time reunions might include all sorts of
activities and entertainments, potato-sack races being one of them. Reminiscing
about the pleasant events of the old days while looking through family albums
is also part and parcel of such family gatherings.