Family. Ильичева Н.М - 8 стр.

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time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live
in Old People’s Homes, which may be private or state owned.
But still, the English are a nation of stay-at-homes. “There is no place like
home”, they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the
company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the
home. “The Englishman’s home is his castle”, is a saying known all over the
world. And it is true.
And what is the American family like? Most American families consist of
a mother, a father and three or four children living at home. There may be
relatives – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-laws in the same
community, but American families usually maintain separate households. This
familial structure is known as the “nuclear family”. It is unusual for members of
the family other than the husband, wife and children to live together.
Occasionally an aging grandparent may live with the family, but this
arrangement is usually not considered desirable. Although the nuclear family
unit is economically independent of the rest of the family, members of the
whole family maintain close kinship ties.
In the American family the husband and wife usually share important
decision making. When the children are old enough, they participate as well.
Foreign observers are frequently amazed by the permissiveness of American
parents. The father seldom expects his children to obey him without question,
and children are often allowed to do what they wish without strict parental
control. Americans believe strongly that the individual person should have the
freedom to decide the course of his or her life. Independence is highly valued in
the United States. Children are expected to make choices – appropriate to their
age and maturity level – in many areas of their lives. Parents encourage their
children to make choices from an early age: how to decorate their bedroom,
how to spend money which they have earned, or what camp they would like to
attend. By the time children reach secondary schools, they are expected to be
able to choose among a variety of courses and activities: American or world
literature? Spanish or Japanese? College preparatory or vocational courses?
Football or the school band? Of course, parents and school advisors help with
these decisions, but great emphasis is put on individual choice. By adulthood,
Americans want and expect to choose where they will live, where whey will
work, and with whom they will socialize and marry. Young people are expected
to break from their families by the time they have reached their late teens or
early twenties. Indeed, not to do so is often regarded as a failure, kind of weak
dependence.
This pattern of independence often results in serious problems for the
aging parents of a nuclear family. The job-retirement age is usually 65. The
children have left home, married and set up their own households. Elderly
couples feel useless and lonely with neither an occupation nor a close family
group. Many communities and church groups sponsor social centres for “senior
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