The Perfect Family Essay

Submitted By kellydeboer
Words: 1668
Pages: 7

1

Kelly DeBoer
Section 032
Visnja Vujin
The “Perfect” Family What does the word family mean to you? It has become a common belief in American culture that families are complete with a mom
,
dad
,
and two kids
, with the dad working outside the home and the mother staying at home to care for the children and home
.
This stereotype has become so accepted in our culture that we naturally start to imagine that all families should be this way
.
In todays society, there are multicultural families, divorced families, kinship families and homosexual families
.
According to the
American Academy of Pediatrics
,
thirty percent of
American families are led by a single parent
.
With a statistic like this
,
one that is continuing to grow , how can society continue to label what a “perfect” family is?
One myth of the perfect family is that it is led by a mother and a father
.
While this is most common
,
gay and lesbian parents are just as capable of raising a family
.
Parental skills are not based solely on coming from a mother and a father
.
How prepared someone is to raise children does not depend on gender and heterosexual marriage
,
but on their willingness and desire to create a good life for their family
.
Maybe this stereotype is hard to break because the media has a big part in it
.
Advertisements are full of families with a mom
,
dad
,
and their children . Imagine the confusion readers’ and audiences would have if we were to start putting gay couples with children on magazine covers instead
.
Recently Tiffany and Co had an ad with a gay couple on it
,
if this became a common occurrence
, the social norm would be much easier to

2

break
.
Not only are advertisements full of the “perfect family” image but so are most movies and tv shows
.
I can’t think of one movie or show off the top of my head that has to deal with gays raising their own family
.
Since gay couples share the exact values as a straight couple
,
there is no difference in how they are going to raise their children
.
Values of individuals are not affected by his or her sexual preferences
,
and therefore would not affect how they raise children
.
While gay couples are at a disadvantage to how society views them
,
they actually can have advantages in how their children mature
.
Although adolescents with homosexual parents will likely be bullied at some point for this
,
they will grow up to be overall accepting people
.
If this is the way they know from birth
,
they will see nothing wrong with it
.
This could be an advantage of this type of family because a child exposed to something seen as “abnormal” to everybody else
,
will accept things around them that are not so normal
.
Not only do families not require a male and female figure
,
they also do not require the father to make all of the money
.
It has almost become an obsession of society that the father is always the “bread winner” and the mom can be a stay at home mother full time
.
What if the roles were reversed? This obsession has gotten to the point where people are appalled to hear that some moms spend their days in the office making money while the fathers are at home taking care of the house
.
While it seems unbelievable that these things happen
,
it is more common than we may think
.
Gender roles play a major part in society in general
,
but even more so when picturing what a family should look like
.
Women are just as capable of making money
,
and it can be a positive example to set for their children if this is the case
.
Children do not grow up with the

3

ideas of how a family should look or be
,
so we as a culture
,
should not put these ideas into their heads .
I was raised with a mother and a father so growing up I didn’t know any differently
,
but I also grew up with friends who did