Family Studies Introduction

Erma Bombeck… …described her family this way: – We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.

What is family? How would you define family? Talk about it in your group. Define on the booklet provided.

Kathleen Gough A married couple or group of adult kinsfolk who cooperate economically and in the upbringing of children, and all or most of who share a common dwelling. Who does this definition exclude?

Statistics Canada …a married or common-law couple with their never-married children, or a lone parent of any marital status with at least one child living in the same dwelling. A couple may be of opposite or same sex. Children may be children by birth, marriage or adoption.

Vanier Institute of the Family Family is defined as any combination of two or more persons who are bound together over time by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or adoption or placement and who, together, assume responsibilities for the functions of the family.

Assignment Write a one to two paragraph entry: comparing your definition of family with the ones provided. (Bombeck, Gough, Statistics Canada, Vanier Institute) Which definition was closest to yours? Did one of the definitions best describe family for you?