A Conjugal Family: The Rising Tradition
How did the conjugal family evolve?
The definition of conjugal family evolves with a variety of socio-cultural impacts. It has started with the idea of a married couple and their minor children but now it also had included adult partners of the same sex and adoptive children, the single parent with a child or children, along with the discrepancy of culture and society. The traditional conjugal or the real nuclear family system had been laid back and took over by the new norms of the society.
But…
What are the basic characteristics of the nuclear family?
Some Characteristics:
Nowadays, staying in a conjugal or nuclear family is trending in the youth. The term conjugal family is derived from the European culture which was later taken up by the American culture, and now the fuzzy term has reached across the globe. This trend has resulted and fascinated the youth of South Asia (countries like Pakistan and India) as well. We all know that conjugal family means the married couple and their children but it is dependent on some characteristics that are needed to be discussed:
Responsibilities:
The parents or couple solely responsible for
Their child’s upbringing and the environment they provide for them.
Absolute Control:
The head of the family has complete control over his partner, kids, home, etc.
Shared-Values:
The shared values of both husband and wife will be instilled in the child.
Unconditional Love:
The couple gives time, focus, and endless love to their child only.
An environment that supports learning:
The mother especially provides and sustains an environment that is constructive for the growth and learning of the children.
Freedom
Freedom for the couple to live a cheerful life without any constraint or concern about parents, grandparents, or any other Kin members.
How is the Nuclear family beneficial for the youth?
Benefits of the Nuclear or Conjugal family:
Benefits are dependent on the social-cultural norms of the various regions. However, some basic benefits are elaborated under:
Reduction in Conflicts:
The conflicts in the nuclear family are reduced because fewer people are living
With low interaction as compared to the joint family.
Increased Responsibilities:
The couple is obliged to fulfill their responsibility either that’s related to work, home, children, or any other social activity.
Maintaining Peace:
Peace, harmony, and prosperity are maintained when the family is reduced to a single unit. Their respect and love for each other is increased
Women’s prejudice is retained:
To maintain peace and prosperity the pride and prejudice of the woman are retained, she looks after the home, children, and work too. They get “me” time too, the basic need of today’s women.
Rationality and Stability:
The coupe or partners have more practical thinking and have the mental stability to decide anything wisely. They’re more mature adults than the couple surviving in joint families.
Communication Skills:
The children growing in the nuclear family have very strong communication skills because of the couple’s shared values.
Individual Attention:
More time and individual attention is given to the family members because of smaller family size.
What are the fallouts youth have that members of the conjugal family must’ve faced?
Fallouts for the Conjugal Family:
The conjugal family also follows with some drawbacks that need to be explained to understand the youths and up-coming generation’s diversity. Also, food of thought is required to keep our traditions and values alive.
- Loneliness and Isolation: The couple might feel alone and away from the extended family members, it makes one feel agitated
- Economic Downfall: It’s getting difficult to maintain the budget at times for the nuclear family. Single unit family is more expensive, there are no other members to share the expenditure.
3. Growing Responsibility Keeps you Agitated: Taking care of the responsibilities, all alone has never been a hard row to hoe. Either it’s a man or a woman handling everything alone, makes them feel agitated.
4. Children’s brain stimulation is affected: Children who live in a joint family are more confident with stronger brain stimulation than the children brought in the conjugal families.
5. Emotionally Insecure: The children get negligent and become emotionally insecure instead of getting more attention because parents get too busy with their work, home, and other responsibilities.
6. Adapting Bad Habits: Not only children but even adults get influenced and indulged in bad habits that are extremely hazardous. Because of lack of assistance and guidance
7. Lesser Problem Resolving Skills: Problems are the part and parcel of everyone’s life. Unlike in a Joint family, the problem or conflict resolving skills get lesser. It limits problem resolving skills for children too.
8. Women Burnout: Women today demand self-care as well and constant handling of responsibilities like work, take care of children, home chores can turn up into burnout, as there is no one for them to share the responsibilities.
9. Care and Guidance of Elders Are Missing: Under the shadow of the elders, the family grows in a better way. There’s always guidance, unconditional love, and endless care for everyone but unfortunately the nuclear family system lacks that care and guidance. In case of emergency even if you’re living along with family other people might help you out with it but alone they might land into worse consequences.
10. Social Communication Skills are Restricted: Social communication skills are restricted in the nuclear family setting for both elders and children.
Rationale for the Youth’s Inclination towards Conjugal Family:
The youth gets fascinated with the lifestyle and liberty; they believe nuclear families often have a lack of patience, forbearance, and fidelity in the couple as well as in the extended family members. The elders don’t have a big heart and acceptance for the couple; they expect ‘great precision’ from the couple. Women, on the other hand, want more liberty and control on the lifestyle and the living. Couples lack dealing with the minor conflicts held within the family members as everyone need their own instead of following the eldest member of the house.
In the 2016, American census, it was observed that 68% of the teenagers and youngsters (aged 20–29) preferred nuclear family over the joint family system. South Asian countries like Pakistan and India have the culture of enjoying the social values of joint family. Grandparents and parents are the main pillars and important constituents of the family. Elders play a vital role in a child’s brought up and teen behavior, whereas, the elder brother is considered a father figure and the elder sister is considered a mother, who also play integral part in beholding the family. A child who has grown up under the shadow of grandparents and parents is noticeably more confident and intelligent. Whereas staying connecting and growing up with the cousins and relatives makes the child’s cognitive skills brawny, the chances of getting influenced by the bad company get lower. But with the time the values have been modified and now in the name of personal space and liberty, the tradition of staying in the nuclear family has amplified. The diverse trend of social media in the past few decades has allowed youth to have a separate identity that is worth recognized and known as a separate unit to be deal with. Mothers now have also failed in inculcating their values in the child because they don’t understand the value of family.
David Brooke in his article: “The nuclear family was the mistake”, has explained the various prospects of extended and nuclear families. It helps the youth to think wisely and correct their facts.
Religious Clerics on Conjugal Family:
The Christians believe that the best family unit is the nuclear family and family is based on marriage. Even Muslim clerics also advocate traditional nuclear families as they have witnessed that youth lacks patience, tolerance, and respect for other family members. Considering modernity, Hindu clerics have also promoted the traditional nuclear family system consisting of married couples and children to maintain equability among relationships.
