For normax

A family is considered one of the most important and oldest social institutions in the world, and many individuals try to promote the concept of the traditional family in the community not following the changing patterns of the family in the world. Traditional families are surely better than modern families not only due to its influence on the younger generation and values promoted but also due to its impact on people’s perception of the reality and interactions with other persons. There are surely many differences between traditional and modern families, and people should decide themselves which type of the family to choose for their own family.

Due to the fact that the world is changing on a regular basis, people simply try to follow these changes and trends affecting the structure of the family and its role in the community. Kumagai stated that the purpose of the traditional family was “to raise children and to fulfill a social and economic function in society rather than to provide companionship, affection, and happiness to all family members” (25). Traditional families promote not only the close ties between family members, but also their relationships with grandparents and other relatives forming the extended family tree where people are highly dependent on each other. In addition, traditional families promote certain cultural and social values that help to keep the society together and in check. The various activities and traditions that these families observed helped to support cohesion and upright values, thus enabling every member of the family to grow into a responsible and valuable member of the society.

Children growing in traditional families value the family highly focusing on the family relationship and promoting the same family structure in the future. Traditional families have many children compared to modern families having one-two children mostly focusing on their economic prosperity and wealth rather than having more children. Thus, traditional families are better in this field, as the close ties between family members and relatives nearly disappear at present making people more closed and centered on their own problems. In most cases, modern nuclear families do not observe traditional family values and mores when compared to the families in rural areas. In rural areas, traditional families are more prevalent, which explains why modern nuclear families are likely to be unhappy and also likely to lead to divorce when compared to the traditional families (Kumagai 27). This clearly shows that traditional values instill a high level of commitment and the members develop strong family values that ultimately help in binding the members together.

Traditional families also impose correct functions and roles of men and women in the family, as modern families provide the changing roles when women work and men stay home taking care for the children and the household. Traditionally, men brought money in the family, and women had to stay home raising children, cooking, cleaning, and taking care for the household. Berns stated that today, “the role of the father is being redefined by technological and ideological changes in our society assuming more household and childcare responsibilities” (94). Traditional families promote the correct functions of the family members preparing children for the future life in the community. According to Berger (6), the forces of urbanization, industrialization, and immigration contributed significantly in transforming the conventional or traditional family, causing it to lose much of its functionality. As Berger further states, “observers feared that families bereft of the traditional support of kin and community were ill-equipped to adequately meet their central functions” (6).This shows that over time, the roles of different family members continued to change to what has become the modern family in which fathers can play the roles traditionally played by mothers, and vice versa.

The traditional families inspire much confidence and security on the part of the family members, as people always stay together assisting each other and resolving problems and challenges together, and this is not common for modern families being individualistic in nature. The application of the new technologies surely made people’s life and activity easier and more productive, but these technological advances affected the nature of people’s relationships in the family. In fact, modern people, especially young persons, are now highly dependent on the Internet and computers spending much time chatting, talking with friends in Skype, etc. Therefore, while the advancement of technology has made life easier, especially the work life, it has also contributed a lot in making people to lead isolated lives; in that, people tend to spend less time in the physical presence of each other. The situation was quite different in traditional families because family members often spent time together working, playing, and socializing.

People in the modern families do not have time to talk to each other, to ask about their day and maybe some personal news, this conversation is replaced by the technology and the Internet (Erera 64). The advancement in technology has contributed significantly in weakening modern families because family members are often engaged in social networking sites at the expense of nurturing meaningful family relationships. Traditional families are better than modern ones in this connection, as family members always find time for each other valuing the family higher than new applications and technologies. Traditional families enable members to gain real values and to develop character, which enables them to lead lives that are more stable when compared to their counterparts in modern families.

Another issue in favor of traditional families compared to contemporary families is linked to the low rate of divorces among people. Koval stated that “the traditional family is strong and stable, divorces and separations are rare, while the contemporary family is contentious and unstable, and divorce has become common” (78). That is why people should understand the importance of traditional families in the community trying to incorporate these values and beliefs while building their own families. The divorce rates are increasing in the modern society, as people cannot build families and do not value their partners highly compared to past times where the family was the main value in people’s life.

In the modern society, low income and economic status of the husband might lead to divorce, as people are now highly dependent on money replacing other values with their financial prosperity and success (Erera 107). That is why traditional families are better than contemporary ones due to the values and important things in life imposed on the younger generation promoting the same issues in their future life in the community. Thus, the main factors leading to this conclusion are associated with the functions of people in the family, as the husband should be the breadwinner and the wife should be the housekeeper, as well as with the number of children, communication styles, and the divorce rate. Traditional families have a way of bringing family members close together because they promote values that promote selfless love and sacrifice, and women in particular often play a significant role in ensuring that there is love and unity among family members. In fact, Koval notes that “women continue to strive for love, marriage, and children despite all the difficulties in their lives” (10).

However, there is another important factor to choose traditional families rather than modern ones, the one associated with teen pregnancies. In fact, due to the values imposed in traditional families, young girls do not think about the premarital sex escaping not only teen pregnancy but also numerous sexually transmitted diseases. Thus, people living in the modern society should consider these issues while planning their own family in the community. Incorporating traditional values in modern families could help to improve their success rates.

Works Cited

Berger, Brigitte. The Family in the Modern Age: More Than a Lifestyle Choice. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2009. Print.

Berns, Roberta. Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support. New York: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.

Erera, Pauline Irit. Family Diversity: Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Family. New York: SAGE, 2001. Print.

Koval, Vitalina. Women in Contemporary Russia. New York: Berghahn Books, 1995. Print.

Kumagai, Fumie.Unmasking Japan Today: The Impact of Traditional Values on Modern Japanese Society. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. Print.