Family Essay

1. Describe 5 different types of familiesA family is a group of people living in a household together either by reason of marriage, blood relation or adoption. Families are the reason for creating today’s society. This is because in a family, people are created and brought into the world, cared for, and given the correct tools to survive in life.There are five different types of families, which are as follows:I. Nuclear Family: The nuclear family is a family that consists of a mother, father, and their child/children. In most cases, the parents in a nuclear family are married. An alternative name for a nuclear family is an elementary family.II. Extended Family: The extended family expands wider than the nuclear family. This is because it consists of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins living either nearby or in the same household.III. Single Parent: A single parent is when a parent lives without their spouse, leaving them with most of the responsibilities to raise the chi ld/children on their own. A single parent is usually considered the primary person who takes care of the child. In some cases due to divorces or separation, the child lives with their primary parent, but is given the privileges of visiting the residence of their noncustodial parent, meaning the parent who does not have complete custody over their child. In this case, the noncustodial parent is most likely to be the father of the child. Single parenting has been caused by many reasons in today’s society, which include:Death of a partner.Child abuse.Neglect.Divorce.Adoption, when the adoptive parent does not have a partner/spouse.IV. Blended Family: A blended family or sometimes called a â€Å"step family† is a relationship when both spouses have been married before and have remarried again, which sometimes lead to a child being brought into the marriage from the past relationship.V. Foster Family: Foster means to help someone grow  and develop. A foster family is two adults that take care of one or more children that belong to other parents. This action is usually called adoption.2. What are the rights and responsibilities of family members?A right is something that people are entitled to. A responsibility is the opportunity to work independently and make your own decisions without being told what to do. Being a part of a family imposes rights and responsibilities on each family member that must be taken seriously. The overall rights and responsibilities of family members are essentially to look after the house and to take care of each other. The responsibilities of the parents are very critical.This is because a parent is supposed to feed, clothe, shelter, educate and provide a safe and comfortable living environment for their child/children. The rights of parents are to interact with their souls mates especially through tough times when they need someone to talk to. Overall, parents should provide companionship for each other. Similarly, child ren also have responsibilities, which include performing the chores that their parents give them to do.These chores can include cleaning, assisting with cooking and looking after younger siblings or other family members. Children also have the responsibility to be respectful and obedient to their parents. The right of a child is to be able to request some things that can be valuable to them from their parents. Perhaps most importantly, the joint responsibilities and rights of all family members are to ensure that the home is a safe and loving environment.3. How does social pressure affect the family?Social Pressures are the combined pressures that surround individuals during everyday life. Examples of social pressure are Peer Pressure, and Academic Pressures. Social Pressures can be confusing and stressful. Despite the strain, these are common pressures that families are normally faced with, especially in the teenaged life. Social pressure affects the family because if not properly managed, it can cause family members to make poor choices, which can lead to the family breaking apart, someone being taken away from the family, or in a worst case scenario, death.Social pressure with the big impact of it, sometimes lead family members into taking drugs trying to relieve their stress. Social pressure can lead up to death in various occasions. This reason is caused mostly because of the pressure that is placed on an individual, forcing them into taking dangerous medication or hanging themselves which leads to death. Many people turn to drugs or alcohol to relieve themselves from pressure. Other social pressure that people are affected by is unemployment or a general lack of finances.In this case it can force a family member to start stealing and committing robbery in attempt to provide for their family members. This can affect the family because it usually leads to person being remanded to prison for several years. Imprisonment of a parent automatically causes the d ynahousehold to become a single parent family and When it comes to the family members trying to fix their problems with alcohol or drugs, this can normally lead up to addictions.In reference from pastor Philip Stubs, he states that social pressure affects a family unit primarily by way of supplanting the family time that is essential for the nature of the family unit. The competition with the family time, from various social events, projects or circumstances results in individual family members opting to reduce their involvement with their family and instead investing their time, money, and emotional energy in societal events, resulting the family unit being weekend. †4. Divorce has been one of the causes of the change in the Bahamian family Structure. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons to support you answer.Before answering this question it is first and most important that we understand what is divorce. â€Å"Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate. à ¢â‚¬ (Mark 10:4) â€Å"Now to the married, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. † (1 Corinthians 7:10-11). In the â€Å"Oxford Student’s Dictionary,† a divorce is the legal ending of a marriage. An online dictionary, â€Å"Datasegment.  com,† refers to a divorce as a legal dissolution of a marriage contract by a court or other body having competent authority.I agree, divorce has been one of the causes of the change in the Bahamian family structure. I then questioned Pastor Stubs on his view of the question. Pastor stubs agreed as well, he stated that â€Å"Of course the Bahamian family structure has also been defined by single parents who have never been married. While many single parents continue to lead excellent households, the best model for a family is the one in which a married man and woma n work together as a team and lead the household and family.I then questioned pastors from my church, Abundant Life Church where Pastor O’Neil Russel along with Pastor Gil. gave their view about the question. They too agreed with the statement. The pastors said that â€Å" Indeed, divorce has been one of the major causes of the change in the Bahamian family structure. As a nation, the Bahamas has been founded upon biblical principles. The biblical model for the family is for a husband and wife to be living together in a godly marriage which, as a result, produces children which ought to be brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.However, when a divorce occurs there is a disorting of what the family structure ought to look like. The structure is different when a husband and wife are not living together and this structure produces problems in the homes with the children as well as with society as a whole. In the Bahamas, there have been many divorces and as a result the basic family structure is deficient in function and effectiveness when it comes to our society.5. To what extent does the change in the Bahamian family structure lead to the many social problems in our society todayIt is very important to understand first that every family makes up today’s society. The change in the Bahamian family structure is highly responsible for the many social ill in our country say’s pastor Gil. This is especially the case when it comes to young men. Most of the social problems in our society are being committed by young men. These young men do not have any sense of identity, direction, or purpose in life.When the young men decide to take part in criminal activity, it always ends up in to a family losing a loved one. In the Bahamian society today, many residents complain about the men who are doing the crime not being brought up properly in their homes. The reason being for that problem is because of the fact that there is no father figure i n the hose hold. This is the job for their fathers. When a father does not live up to his responsibility in the lives of his children, he causes problems with their identity.They are not given the discipline, love, acceptance, and direction that God has designated the father to introduce to them and thus they turn to other vices or persons to the detriment of their lives. The intake of this question from Rev. Philip Stubbs was very straight forward to the question too as well. Rev. Stubbs said that â€Å" In our society the family is the most foundational unit. It is through the family that persons are socialize, that is to learn social skills so that they might be properly prepared to function well in society.The sad diminished familial situation had directly resulted in many social problems in our society. These problems include low academic performance, violation of the nation’s laws, low levels of ambition and long term planning amongst young people. † In my opinio n, the social problems are mainly because of how some parents are raising their children. Inside the homes, some parents may not take time to spend with their children, show no kinds of love towards them, treat the aggressively and with all of this being done can lead to the child being a pest to the Bahamian society.6. How do you think the family can help to combat the social problems of today?The family can help to combat social problems today by being responsible enough to raise their children properly. Parents should pay close attention to the problems that are going on today and realize that because of the poor teachings about being a good citizen are leading to the many problems today. Pastor Gil says that â€Å" the family can help to combat the social problems of today by seeking to remain together as husband and wife while raising godly children in the fear and admonition of God. The parents are to be an example to the children of godliness and they should as a result foll ow their example.When more families decide to take on this purpose, the social problems of today will be decreased over time. Wanting to know more on what someone else thought we could do to combat social problems, I again question Rev. Stubbs on his point of view. He said that â€Å"Socialization through transference of excellent values like self- respect, respect for others, respect for law and order, promotion of Christina spirituality, promotion of education and industry are key ways Bahamian families can help to combat social problems in the Bahamas.7. Assess the role the church plays in creating a good familyBefore we can answer the question, we must first understand what is a church. A church is said to be a place that we can go and give thanks and praise to the almighty God. We can also go to the church for weddings, funerals, help with funds, and family crisis. The church plays a very big role in creating a good family. Pastor Gil says that â€Å" the church plays a funda mental role in creating a good family.The church is the pillar , ground of truth and the place where the family ought to go to receive biblical preaching and instructions that will help them to grow together into becoming a family that is pleasing to the Lord. It will train fathers to lead, wives to submit to the husbands in the Lord, and for children to obey their parents. The church is important because the teaching of God’s Word will help the family to be what it ought to become in the sight of God so that it will be functioning and the possibility of it producing social problems is decreased.