Something Cool about Your Family

[All levels - English]

Hey, I'm back. Today's a bit of an unusual turn - Instead of studying maths or science, we're studying English (and a touch of social sciences).

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Think of a family. What kind of family did you think of just now? Probably one with a father, a mother, and the kids would be some girl and her sibling. Or, the question hit a little closer to home, and it's just one lonely kid, somewhat similar to your own house, maybe.

Maybe both parents would work, and you're often waiting for them to come home after school, they would have a portrait of their marriage somewhere in the master bedroom that you'd peek at and not fully understand? Or, perhaps the father earns all of the money and keeps the family functional while the mother helps out around the house, watching you like a hawk and enforcing your homework, telling you to help out with chores?

Well, wasn't that interesting?

The family type mentioned earlier, with one father, one mother and their children, has an official term - It's called the "nuclear family". Wow, what a name, it's 'nuclear'! Well, no need to worry about radiation, or atomic warfare. The nuclear family, in essence, represents something you've known in cells for a long time - the nucleus. The nucleus of the cell is often regarded as the core, the important and fundamental part, where the genetics are contained. All members of a nuclear family are, in the same way as the cell, considered "important". Why would it be important, you ask? Good question, hmm.

Maybe it's because throughout most of history, this innate idea that two parents giving birth to two children who would one day become parents to their own children, is what kept Humanity as a species alive for long enough that you get to read this blog post today. Maybe it's what all families first start off as, before they change in shape and structure due to circumstances (your father has to work overseas so it's just your mom and siblings around, or if your mother remarries and the stepfather brings his family along, for example) With that in mind, the 'nuclear family' model acts like a cell for society, just like how your red blood cells act as a cell for your body. It, essentially, refers to a model which communities stabilise, and societies spring forth from; and so the term sticks perfectly.

However, it's important to remember this - The nuclear family model can be referred to as a cell in society, but not all cells have to be of the same design. Your white blood cells are different from your red blood cells, your liver cells are different from your muscle cells, your brain cells are different from your toenail cells, your hair cells are different from your skin cells. Borrowing that concept, there is no almighty power that enforces the idea that all families must fit the "nuclear family" model.

Extended families, single-parent families, blended families, they are just as much families as nuclear families are. If one's father stays far away and your mom lives with you, that is simply indicative in a single-parent family where one's parents are separated (married legally, but not living together) That should in no way detract from one's experience in society. Having a different family just makes the individual different, and in no case should aggression occur, lest one be mired in ethnocentrism and naivete.

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TL;DR, While the 'nuclear family model' is popular, it's fine if your family doesn't match the model; and if you have classmates who make fun of you for it then they have failed to grow up. (For those who aren't hip enough, TL;DR refers to Too Long, Didn't Read. Shame on you if you did skip to the TLDR though, you'll fail English if you do that all the time~)

See that cute sentence up there which summarises the excerpt? Yeah, you can put many cute sentences on your reading comprehension excerpts too, to summarise the whole thing. It helps you to collect the whole paragraph's points together, in a simple and neat format that gives you a better idea of what the reading passage is talking about.