Complete family: description of the concept, characteristics, features

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The formation of a family unit is the most important task of a person and one of the main functions of a society with he althy values. The importance of full-fledged families in the modern world has been artificially underestimated more than once, however, the social status of a cell where both parents and at least one child are present has always been rated consistently high.

The concept of a full-fledged family

A complete family is a kindred union of three or more people, due to the presence of a married couple and their common child (or children). It is supposed to consider that the concepts of “full-fledged family” and “normal” are synonymous, however, the norm factors accepted in society, such as: material security, decent upbringing and a he althy microclimate in the house, are often present in complete and single-parent families equally.

The purpose of creating a marriage union is to continue the family, which means that the entire system of building marital relations is normally based on the love of two people and their desire to spendtogether for the rest of your life. Only under such conditions can the decision to give birth to a new person be considered responsible, and the internal atmosphere of the family suitable for the birth of a baby.

Social psychologist E. Harutyunyants names 3 types of positive relationships observed in modern society when the family is complete.

Traditional look

Education of a child in the traditional approach is done by both parents equally, and the basis for improving mutual understanding is the establishment of a strict vertical of power from father and mother to child. The interests of the child are taken into account only if they coincide with the interests of the parents, but at the same time all the conditions for the normal development of the offspring are strictly observed.

Children who grow up under the unquestioned authority of loving parents fit perfectly into any hierarchical society, but are rarely able to occupy a high position in any of the prominent structures themselves. Their reverence for a superior leader always takes precedence over their need to level the playing field, and this is a serious barrier to career advancement.

Child-centric parenting model

As the name implies, adult members of a complete family do not so much create a decent level of existence for a child as they themselves exist around his person. The principle of upbringing in such families is also vertical, but proceeds from the youngest family member to the oldest. The most accurate characteristic of a complete family of a child-centric species is an obsession withneeds of the child with minimal filtering of valid child requests from invalid ones.

The result of being in such an educational environment is the child's feeling of permissiveness and his own originality, which makes it difficult for him to further communicate in society. Due to the fundamental non-compliance with generally accepted norms, a young man, if he does not change his attitude to life, risks being in a social vacuum.

Democratic parenting

This model of a complete family is considered ideal. It clearly expresses two-way horizontal communication from parents to the child and vice versa, and the interests of the younger family member are taken into account to the same extent as the interests of the older generation. As the child grows older, his relationship with his parents also increases, but it is not based on material or moral dependence, but on feelings of friendship and complete mutual understanding.

Children who grew up in such a family are highly active and have leadership qualities, but they have almost no idea of the hierarchical structure of society. This entails problems in obedience while in educational institutions, a poor understanding of the needs of society and awareness of oneself as a unit of this whole.

Functions of a he althy family

A distinctive feature of a complete family is that it performs all the functions required for the development and socialization of this microstructure in modern society. A complete list of such functions was proposed by I. V. Grebennikov, the author of the well-knownPedagogical manual "School and family":

• reproductive function - due to the need for procreation;
• economic - participation in the production of goods and services and the money circulation of the country, the formation of consumer demand;
• primary socialization - the organization of the correct social education of the child and the development of the principles of moral and ethical standards adopted in this society;
• educational - the formation of respect and tolerance for the world around the younger generation through similar relationships in the family;
• communicative - the ability of all family members to engage in dialogue, establish friendly relations, interact with media sources.

Since the complete family is the basic cell of society, its functions directly depend on social needs and goals, satisfied at different levels by fulfilling all the above points of family organization.

Traditional family behavior

A specialist in social psychology, Dr. M. S. Matskovsky, after conducting research among many complete families, came to the conclusion that the best option for maintaining intra-family comfort is to instill a traditional model of behavior in households. To this Matskovsky refers the following characteristic features of classical family foundations:

• the dominant position of the father as an undeniable mentor and leader;
• strict manner of communicating with children;
• children are raised by the mother, but the direction in whichthis upbringing is done, determined by the father;
• parental work is not hidden from children and is an example for the younger generation;
• no disagreements between parents in the presence of children.

According to psychologist Matskovsky, the norm in family relations has always been determined precisely by the position of the father as an absolute dominant, and the obvious role of a woman was to serve her husband and keep traditions.

What is a large family

The moral values of the Slavs until the beginning of the 20th century were dictated by the canons of the Orthodox faith, which promotes large families as one of the principles of following the word of God. Having seven or more minor family members was considered an absolute norm, and this fact was encouraged by society.

Since the transformation of the country's economy into a market economy, social norms have changed, and at the moment a family with three or more minors is considered a large family. Since episodes of intolerance towards families with the status of large families are increasingly observed on the part of society, the decent existence of such a social unit is a big question. In most cases, large families are in a constant struggle for survival and are forced to put up with the inability to give every child a decent education and provide him with everything he needs.

Features of large families with many children

Pluses for large families, due to the full parental composition, tooquite a few:

• children have enough communication and are more inventive in games and entertainment;
• older children grow up earlier and partially take on the functions of raising kids;
• these children have a better sense of empathy than their peers, they are characterized by sensitivity, recognition of other people's weaknesses, lack of selfish inclinations.

But even a complete family with several children can face the difficulties of upbringing, which is especially pronounced when both parents are forced to work. Adolescents, aware of the impossibility of exercising sufficient control over them, often skip or drop out of school. Adolescents from large families develop such bad habits earlier than their peers: smoking, drug addiction, vagrancy.

A child in a large family rarely has the opportunity to show off any property, and this develops in him a lack of respect for other people's property. Often, in the struggle for personal space, children lose their sense of proportion and become provocateurs of protracted conflicts, which can only be resolved through the intervention of psychologists.