The American Family Essay

Submitted By gbarnhill
Words: 350
Pages: 2

The American Family

The American Family has really changed over the years. Everyone has their own definition of a “typical family”. Much of what we know today is not what a family really is or what it used to be. The family life has really begun to change during the 20th century. Families are beginning to contain two moms and no dad or two dads and no mom. There is also the issue of divorce and only one parent being present in the household while the children are growing up.
The nuclear family, which is a family that contains a mother, father and children, is becoming less and less known in our society. Our economy is based off of strong family units. Families buy products that are being sold; they also add to the future work force and education system. Households that consist of one female and one male are what hold the well-being of our Nation together.
The average size of a family has really gone down the drain; families are smaller than they ever have been before. Women are waiting longer to get married, and have children as a result there are a lower number of children being born; our Nation has been past the replacement mark of our population since 1972. The number of married couples in homes and the whole number of homes are dropping slowly. From 1950 to 1989 alone the percent of married couples in homes dropped from 78 to 56 percent.
85 percent of children lived with both parents in 1968 and by 2003 the number had sank to 70 percent. In 2007 the