Leaving in a dozen of people-stretching from grandma to grandma’s cousin, most of us have always been fascinated by those pretty little homes; where everyone gets to live his own life-A nuclear family or an elementary family.
Now what is a nuclear family?
According to the oxford dictionary it is: A couple and their dependent children; however the definition is not that précised for everyone, for some of us it is a peaceful family that can make a home out of every house, and why is it so?
Here are some of the advantages of a nuclear family
- Economic stability
In an extended family there are fewer hands to earn and more mouths to eat as compared to a nuclear family thus a nuclear family has a better lifestyle and according to a research 57 percent of nuclear families are above poverty line.
“It is a matter of economic wellbeing that most families be formed as mother, father, and children in a single-family household.” – Hendrith Vanlon Smith Jr, Principles of a Permaculture Economy.
- A conflict-free life
Living in an extended family portrays the way life would be in a war zone where we can’t drop the arms even if we want because it is not possible to fulfil the requirements of all the opponents, similarly we can never make peace with every family member; comparatively in a nuclear family there are little or no arguments that are resolved with the mutual compromise between the couple. Moreover the extended family causes jealousy and envy from others success that surely leads to a dispute or anger.
- Family privacy
“All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.” says: Gabriel García Márquez in his book Gabriel García Márquez: a Life, and a private life is only possible in a nuclear family that lets you live the way you want to, a couple can raise their children according to their own will without any interruption and a family can make choices of its own as John Milton says in his book Paradise Lost “Solitude sometimes is best society.”
On the contrary neither every nuclear family has a positive household nor every one of them have healthier family life, a lot end up with some negative aspects and this is because of the following disadvantages:
- Loneliness
As it is said excess of everything is bad thus most of the kids raised in absolute privacy cannot face the world or cope up with a crowded environment. In most of the cases both the parents have to go out to win the bread which results in dereliction of duty towards the child and in 1993 National Research Council (NRC) reported on child abuse and neglect that such child is most likely to develop anxiety and other mental disorders. Toni Morrison said “Two parents can’t raise a child any more than one. You need a whole community – everybody – to raise a child.”
- Lack of family relations
A nuclear family has a paucity of bonds towards their families except for the immediate family members. The family is deprived of the support system and protection that a joint family can provide; similarly their happy moments are spend alone here I will add the saying of Richard Bach “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life”.
- Unbalanced life
A mother in nuclear family can never keep the balance between house chores and office work or look after the children properly; consequently she has to compromise any one of these therefore, ends up having stressful life.
In conclusion like every family life nuclear family has its own for and against views, nothing is clearly black and white.
“The distance between a gene and behaviour is of greatest interest to me. The relative contributions of nature and nurture, of nucleotide and nuclear family, are perpetually fascinating to me.” Said John Medina about nuclear family, while on the other hand Germaine Greer said “I’m passionately opposed to the nuclear family, with its mom and dad and their 2.4 children. I think it’s the most neurotic life-style ever developed.”
