class: Introduction To Marriage & Family

textbook: Cohen, P.N. The Family: Diversity, Inequality, and Social Change (3rd ed.)

Have you ever considered where or from whom your understanding of the rules of family is based? Years ago, Art Linkletter hosted what today would be considered a talk show with children called Kids Say the Darndest Things, in which he would ask the children what they had been told NOT to talk about, say, or reveal.

In at-least 150 words discuss the following:

1. If you think back to your childhood and primary family unit, were you given instructions that kept certain parts of your family life secret or private?
2. What did this teach you about family?
3. In your experience or from your observations, if a family unit includes children, does our society treat the family unit differently than one that does not include children?
   • If so, what might account for this different treatment?
   • If not, do you think family units that include children should be given advantages over family units that do not?
4. Finally, read and reply substantively to at least two classmates' posts.

The discussion forum is part of a college course, so your writing style is expected to be at a college level.

Also Answer to this person.

Family is defined however you perceive it . A bloodline is not the only way individuals can become family. The legal definition of family is generally defined as a group of individuals related by birth, marriage, or adoption. My personal definition of family is someone who has shown that they will be there for me through thick and thin . Someone who loves me unconditionally. Some of my friends have been more like family than my own blood family members . I think that the legal definition of family conflicts with individual's personal definition because some people only have outsiders that they consider to be family. Those outsiders may not fall in the category of by birth, marriage, or adoption and in legal matters the law would not see them as family. For example if the individual was going through something medically related, only legal family would have a say so unless legally written.

I feel like single parent family homes are devalued by society. When it comes to single mothers, they aren't allowed to stay home with the child as much as the child may need it. When it comes to single fathers, they are often seen as incompetent of raising a child alone. I feel as though single family homes have to work twice as hard to be seen as equal as a traditional house hold.