Family Reality

It is often argued by those who grew up during the years following World War Two that life was so much better then. Everyone knew their neighbour by name, children were safe on the streets and front doors were never locked. During that golden age, the nuclear family ruled with fathers as the head and breadwinners whilst mothers stayed home and looked after the children. A job was for life and marriages lasted til death. Those were the good old days.

The 1960s arrived with its "make love not war" banner and women gained their sexual independence by way of the pill and feminism. Gone (for some) were the rules of old where a woman had no economic or domestic power. As the 70s approached, the realities of what constituted a family blurred and new choices of living emerged.

The patriarchal family now existed alongside single parent homes; same sex families; step; foster; adoptive; childless couples - to name a few. As people gravitated towards cities, they moved away from the extended family (grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings), gaining much but inevitably losing the vital connection(s).

A new way of parenting, of raising children in urban settings emerged. Many success stories exist and by sharing them, others will know how it can be done.