It's 2009. What's your definition of the American "nuclear family" now-a-days?

i can’t define the current ‘nuclear family’, but my hopes are that that’s a good thing, and that the idea of a ‘perfect’ family is close to dying out. who is the population of america to judge my family life and give it a ranking in normality if i’m happy in it?

The actual Sociologist definition is the immediate family, consisting of mother, father, and children.

Even gays want to pair off, “two by two, to be sure these days continue, things we cannot change…” Sorry, I caught up in a song. I think the nuclear family is still the ideal; it’s what most people see for their futures. Sure, now it’s mom, or mom and dad, or dad and dad, or grandma, etc… but when most people envision the future, I’d say the idea of 2 parent household, with kids and a cat is still the most desirable lifestyle.

Should that be nucular family? Or was that too last-year? :P

Cohabiting parents (however many there are) and the children living in the habitation for whom those parents are responsible, and are allowed to use as deductions on their tax forms.

Holy shit! How’d the IRS get into this???

I always like your answers Tiffy
:)

@daloon: I think that is a great answer. I think “nuclear family” has been redefined to mean the parents/adults raising the children in their house. I think, also, that it has to be a somewhat happy family. I don’t think the family down the street with the abusive mother and the distant father and three delinquent children can be called nuclear.

The majority of Americans live their lifestyle as a member of a nuclear family, but never forget about the citizens of Utah where they practice polygamy. Polygamy can be categorized into 2 groups: polygyny and polyandry. Polygyny is when a husband has more than one wife and polyandry is when a wife has more than one husband. In Utah, both forms of polygamy are legal and many people are members of such families. Many of these people are happy too.

aw thank you, i always like your questions! {=

Any group of people who live together, love one another, rely on each other and are responsible for each other. Plus the cat.

the cat must always be included in my opinion. (:

I personally don’t find the concept of “Two parent household” ideal. I was raised in a pretty traditional Azorian Portuguese immigrant family (might sound too small of a cultural group to have its own stereo types, but I assure you if you’ve ever met one of us, you know what I’m talking about :-)

The idea of only being raised by my two parents is completely foreign to me. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, god parents (several of them), cousins etc. were all very much a part of my life, and shared responsibility in raising me. And they continue to be a part of my life.

It does make moving away a little complicated (we just don’t) but if my husband and I were to decide to have kids, I would want to be as close to my parents and family as possible because I would like my child to have a relationship with eir grandparents and other “extended” family.

Nuclear family is parents and kids – as in, the nucleus of a family, the very most basic unit. It’s in opposition to “extended” family, with is parents, kids, grandparents, cousins, in-laws, etc., as often happened before the advent of single-family homes and suburbs. You could find extended families on farms very often, and still can in some other countries where those extra family members are needed for working the land, caring for children, bringing in income, etc.

It has very little to do with how “happy” the family is, or whether they have a picket fence or a dog.

You go, Laureth! I was going to make those exact two points, but find you have already done it. Excellent job, and lurve!