Modern Family!!

I've been watching Modern Family and laughing out loud. It's hilarious. My roommate doesn't like it as much as me because he gets stressed out thinking about having a life like the ones depicted in the show. I think because it's all about the family and trying to get along and raising teenagers. blech.

But it is a great show and interesting because the show is exclusively about their home lives. It doesn't show them at work or introduce many friends. And yet there is enough material investigating these familial relationships and how complicated families can be to make an entertaining show.

Watch it!

More stats

Number of houses in Baltimore:

Male householder, no wife present, family

12,255

5.2%

Female householder, no husband present, family

54,186

23.0%

I always wondered what that number was.

Number of houses in Greenville, SC:

Male householder, no wife present, family

7,423

4.6%

Female householder, no husband present, family

20,476

12.6%

2005-2007 Census Findings in Baltimore

PERCENTAGE OF FAMILIES AND PEOPLE WHOSE INCOME

IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS IS BELOW THE POVERTY LEVEL

Married couple families

6.6%

Families with female householder, no husband present

28.8%

More fun statistics here.

More stats

MARITAL STATUS
Population 15 years and over	221,148,671	100.0%
Never married	59,913,370	27.1
Now married, except separated	120,231,273	54.4
Separated	4,769,220	2.2
Widowed	14,674,500	6.6
Female	11,975,325	5.4
Divorced	21,560,308	9.7
Female	12,305,294	5.6

I can't believe that 54.4% of everyone over 15 is married. This is incredibly reassuring to me. I've grown up in a single-parent household and have just assumed that I will be divorced eventually. I am just so surprised right now that that many people are married and not divorced! 27.1% of everyone has never been married, so the divorce rate is not as high as I thought it was in my head.

My experience seeing my parents separate has absolutely shaped my views of divorce. It is so normal to me and I can see how easily it can happen that I'm kinda surprised that so many people can do it [marriage].

Family Support America

http://www.familysupportamerica.org/

This organization gives advice about adoption, how to not lash out at children, children and divorce, finding daycare, etc.

Marriage earns money for divorce.

These are two signs that make me smile.

Family Dinners

The Guilt-Trip Casserole: The Family Dinner

"Teenagers who eat with their families less than three times a week are more likely to turn to alcohol, tobacco and drugs than those who dine with their families five times a week."

"Like breastfeeding and Baby Mozart tapes, family dinner has become a red-hot item on the good-parent scorecard."

"But as parents go to ever more breathless effort, or feel ever more guilt-ridden, are we becoming too literal-minded about 'family dinner'?"

"'To say that family dinners are associated with good outcomes is not the same as saying that family dinners cause good outcomes,' wrote Dr. Cowan, who has studied families."

I thought it was interesting that teenagers are less likely to turn to drugs and alcohol if they have regular family dinners. I have not found that to be the case (my family has dinners together regularly, and my siblings...)

But it makes sense that if teens don't get that family, that sense of belonging, that they would turn to something else. I've always heard this was true in terms of why some teens turn to gangs. That sense of belonging. I think it's important that not only as future parents we address this, but as future teachers. Give your students a place to belong so they don't need to turn elsewhere.

Fractured Familes

I came across this article in the UCLA magazine titled, "The Fractured Family", It seems that even traditional nuclear families are having a harder time of it these days.

"the traditional nuclear family represented only 24 percent of American households"!!!

" [Adults are] taking on more to do in less time, with research showing that dual-income parents now work more than 90 hours a week combined."

"family members were all together in the same room only 14 percent of the time."