Alejandra Hernandez

FHS-2400
Prof. Mark O. Jarvis
Summer Semester 2015

QUESTION: WHAT IS A FAMILY?

Identify three people (it would be best if both sexes and a variety of ages were represented).
Individually, ask each person to define "What is a family?" Your paper should include your
subjects gender, marital status, and approximate age as well as their complete response to the
question. In addition to those three definitions, include your own definition. Note: Most people
will try to give "simple" answers. Encourage them to give complete thoughtful answers.
ANSWER
I interviewed some members of my family about this question and these were they responses:
Male, married, 46 years old. The family is something very important. My family is the main
aspect to me, it is the foundation of all, and it is the foundation for which all should be based,
additional to the Gospel. The family is the core, something inseparable that if you work hard on
it, it will be stronger every day. The family is surely the central part of a society, a country. The
family should be based on values, loyalty, and honesty, and depending on how people work well
with their family, the society will work. Imagine a society where all the families do the right
things, where they teach to their children the right things and they put all their efforts to try that
their children do all the right things. There would be not much deviation in the world and we
would have a better society. I believe that the best way to change the world is by changing the
families.
Woman, single, 19 years old. Family for me is the center of the life of all people, it should be
the most important thing because with that comes the union and all those values that a person
needs to be complete. I think the main family are the brothers and parents, but also cousins,
uncles are important because if you dont have a father, an uncle or a cousin can be with you at
all times. Also, it is important to have the other part of the family, like the grandparents.
Woman, married, 64 years old. The family is the core of society. It comprising father, mother,
children, uncles, cousins and grandparents. We may also think that our neighbors at any given
time could also perform the role of a family because if we do not have near the main family, we
also have neighbors.
After I read chapter 1 of the book The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in
a changing society, I saw that family is something more complex that the image of traditional
family that we have in our minds. The family for me in the center of all main teachings that
people can receive in their lives and they will reflect in their daily activities the values, beliefs,
traumas and complexities experienced at home. Regardless of how it is structured, if you grew
up in a family where you have been taught the importance of love, unity, respect, tolerance,

honesty and integrity in some way you'll follow those models although it is true that people will
make their own decisions because of their agency. I also agree that we can receive those
teachings and this concept of family from our extended family and even from friends or
neighbors.
I support with this position that the health and stability of our society depend largely on strong
and stable families. When families fail, individuals must turn to society for assistance; social
institutions must be designed to fill the voids left by failing families, and the pathologies created
by weak family structures make society a less livable place (Strong & Cohen, 2014, p. 28).
If we decide to start a family, we are responsible of the well- being of its members. I observe
how in my country young people take bad decisions product of the lack of support of their
families and the society pays the consequences with the increase of delinquency that government
cannot control. If we do our part we will enjoy of a healthy society, if not, we will see the
consequences in our family and around to us.
Words cited
Strong, B, & Cohen, T. F. (2014). The marriage and family experience: Intimate relationships in
a changing society (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.