Home and family in britain

The mid-twentieth century has brought great changes to family life in Great Britain. Most women, who marry, continue to go out to work until they have children, and few have more than two children. Most women with very small children stay at home to look after them.

Parents have become more indulgent to their children in every way, giving them more presents and money and not exercising much discipline. There is so much variety that generalization is unwise, but serious misbehaviour, including vandalism, by young children, increased ten times over in twenty years. This is often blamed on weak parental control. The “problem families” are well known to the large army of social service workers.

In well-adjusted families modern life gives scope for more collective family activity, which is helped by owning a car and a garden. While the nuclear family of parents and children has grown closer together, the extended family has become weaker. Young people, when they marry, tend to live away from their parents and other relations, often in different towns, and many people move from one town to another at intervals of five, ten or fifteen years, so that many children hardly know their aunts, uncles or cousins.

4. Work in pairs or small groups. Discuss the following questions.

1. What impact has modern day living had on the family?

2. Are the roles of men and women in the family changing? How?

3. What are some common problems that families have? How can these problems be solved?

Vocabulary practice

5. Study the following and do the tasks below.

• Types of family

• nuclear family = mother, father and children: “The traditional British family unit is a nuclear family.”

• single-parent / one-parent family = a family which only has one parent (because the parents are divorced, or because one of the parents has died): “There are more and more single-parent families in the UK.”

• immediate family = your closest relatives: “Only immediate family members attended the funeral.”

• extended family = your entire family: “The wedding invitations were sent to the entire extended family.”

• close-knit family = a family where the members have close relationships with each other: “They are a close-knit family.”

• dysfunctional family = a family where the members have serious problems with each other: “He comes from a rather dysfunctional family.”

• Expressions with family

• family gathering = a meeting / celebration of family members: “There’s a small family gathering next week.

• family resemblance = where members of the family look / act similar: “You can see a distinct family resemblance between the father and the son.”

• to start a family = to start having children: “They want to wait a couple of years before starting a family.”

• to run in the family = a characteristic that is common among family members: “Baldness runs in his family.”

• to bring up / raise a family = to have and look after children: “It’s difficult to raise a family on one income.”

• family man = a man who prefers to spend his time with his family: “John is a family man.”

• family-friendly = a policy that favours families: “This hotel is family-friendly.”

• family values = traditional ideas about what a family should be: “Some political parties often emphasize family values and the importance of marriage.”

• family ties = a strong relationship between members of a family: “He says he can’t leave home yet because of family ties.”

• family name = surname: “What’s your family name?”

• a family car = a car big enough to transport a family: “The Volvo Estate is a popular family car.”

• family-size = large quantity item: “We need to buy family-size packets of biscuits!”

6. Match the definitions with the words in the box.

household, blood relation, marriage, single-parent family, relative/relation, relationship, extended family, nuclear family

1. what there is between one thing, person, idea, etc. and another or others

2. union of a man and woman as husband and wife

3. a person who is related to you by birth, not marriage

4. all the people living together in a house

5. someone who belongs to your family

6. a family in which there is only one parent

7. a family which consists only of parents and their children, without grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.

8. a family not only of parents and children, but also in which grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. live together or close to each other

7. Match the words of similar meaning.

1 ties	a belief
2 trust	b hypocritical
3 devotion	c self-centered
4 selfish	d falsity/insincerity
5 two-faced	e loyalty
6 sincere	f bond
7 hypocrisy	g honest

8. Match the words to their opposites.

1 weak	a warmheartedness
2 with	b honesty/openheartedness
3 few	c distrust
4 distant	d without
5 continue	e many
6 insincerity	f strong
7 trust	g stop
8 indifference	h close

9. Choose the corresponding English word.

1 родительский	a) parent	b) parental	c) parenthood
2 внимательный, заботливый	a) caring	b) carefree	c) careless
3 потакающий	a) indulgently	b) indulgence	c) indulgent
4 сердечность, доброта	a) hard-hearted	b) warmhearted	c) warmheartedness
5 заботливый, чуткий	a) thought	b) thoughtful	c) thoughtless
6 безразличный, равнодушный	a) indifference	b) indifferent	c) indifferently
7 неискренность	a) sincere	b) sincerity	c) insincerity
8 преданность	a) devote	b) devotion	c) devoted
9 раздражительность, нетерпимость	a) patient	b) patience	c) impatience

10. Match the words with their meanings.

duty, trust, honest, selfish, thoughtful, indulgent, impatient, devotion

1. not telling lies

2. always thinking of small things that you can do to make people happy and comfortable

3. concerned only with one’s own advantage without care for others

4. unable to bear the weaknesses of others

5. allowing someone to do or have what they want

6. a personal sense of what one should do

7. a feeling of loving and being loyal to someone, especially for a long period of time

8. confidence, strong belief, in the goodness and reliability of a person

11. Account for the use of the words “relate”, “relative”, “relation”, and “relationship”.

1. We are related by marriage.

2. I didn’t know you two were related to each other.

3. She says she is related to the royal family.

4. My uncle is my closest relative.

5. Is Stella a relation of yours? –— Yes, she’s a distant cousin of mine.

6. He was a blood relation of Lady Fiona.

7. All his poor relations came to spend their holidays at his home.

8. His illness is obviously related to his worries.

9. Your answer has no relation to the question. It bears no relation to the facts.

10. In recent years there have been much better relations between East and West.

11. Britain threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Iran over the issue.

12. It is crucial that Germany continues to have a good relationship with its neighbours.

13. What kind of relationship did you have with your father?

14. The crucial factor in their relationship was their unshakeable faith in each other.

15. Mr Tailor is an excellent teacher and has a good relationship with his students.

16. He said his affair with Susan could not develop into a lasting relationship.

17. When they first met, Dave was having an unhappy relationship with someone he’d known for years.

12. Replace the underlined words by their synonyms.

1. She took me back home to meet all her friends and relations.

2. Honesty is vital in any relationship.

3. I haven’t much belief in his honesty.

4. Being a kind-hearted woman, she felt sorry for the poor child.

5. I’ve never met anyone so double-faced: she’s sweet and charming to you, and then goes and complains about you to the boss!

6. Sharon was lucky to have such caring parents at a time when she needed help.

13. Fill in the correct word from the list below.

trust, relationship, honest, purpose(s), extended, children, duty, devotion, honesty, thoughtful, indulgent, indifferent

1. My partner and I have a wonderful ... based on mutual trust and respect.

2. There were ten brothers and sisters and various other members of the ... family living in the house.

3. Did you come to London for the ... of seeing your family, or for business ...?

4. Do not forget your ... to your parents.

5. Even after they got married they found it was impossible to be completely ... with each other.

6. You have to admire her … – she always says what she thinks.

7. A child usually has perfect ... in its mother.

8. Bringing up ... in the absence of an extended family is no easy task.

9. My father never cared much about us. He was cold and ... .

10. She had given her husband years of ... and support.

11. ... parents do not require children to regulate themselves or behave appropriately.

12. Her ... parents had provided her with a little extra money in case an emergency should arise.