Forever United

My family has been such a huge influence on my life, without their love and support I would not be where I am today.  I was lucky enough to grow up in a loving and stable household, with two parents and a sibling. These three people are the most important people in my life. When a baby is born into this world the first interaction that they are introduced to are the ones with their family. It is crucial to socialize young children and teach them the socially accepted norms of society. If a child fails to be socialized they will not fully understand what is expected of them.

            The textbook describes family as a social institution found in all societies that unite people in cooperative groups to care for one another, including any children. And kinship is a social bond based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption. My family formed out of marriage of my mother and father, like many other families. Families in today’s society tend to be a lot more diverse than in previous decades, Like discussed in class, the Television show Modern Family is based on today's diversity of families. In the show one family includes; a mother, father, and three children, the second family has two husbands and a n adopted child and the final family has a younger wife an older husband and a child. This show is a great example showing the extreme diversity now found today.

            Families come in all different forms, when thinking of the world family some may just think about the ones who they are related to. However, a family is a social institution, meaning families can be formed from friends, sporting teams, or other organizations. My family is friends with another family and technically we are not blood related but I still consider them to be family. We get together for holidays and go on vacations, I believe it is important to have a family outside of your kinship.Families can also be formed out of sports teams, or just people whom you are really close to. For myself my high school soccer team last year was a part of my family. I was a captain on the team and played a huge role in getting everyone on the same page and to get everyone to bond; because of out very close relationships together we were able to go very far in that season and ended up ranking second in our league.

Families come in all shapes and sizes, there is not a certain way the family must look in order to be considered a family. Society is always changing and today the ideas for family are a lot different than they once were in earlier centuries. In the early 1950s families were supposed to be: dad, mom, and the children, dad worked, mom stayed home, cooked, cleaned and took care of the children. In today’s society both men and women are socially accepted to work and children go off to school at an early age. The every changing society norms is shaping the way we see families. 

Additional Links:
http://www.appliedsoc.org/family/

 https://www.boundless.com/sociology/boundless-open-textbook/family/