Pssst...About the Nuclear Family

If there’s any takeaway from the past 40 plus years of the American Culture Wars waged by the conservative right, it’s that there hasn’t been a family structure throughout history so revered and needing of protection as the nuclear family unit. 

Why?  Because long before it was re-cast as a social/cultural unit, it existed as an economic unit.  It served the purpose of providing a relatively mobile labor force that could move from one area to another, which might have a greater need for workers.  It’s arguable that this labor mobility was crucial to the development of the American economy from the settlement of the American Frontier throughout it’s Industrialization.

There’s a tragedy within this culture war being fought on its behalf.  The economic policies and deregulation promoted by the nuclear family’s ostensible protectors in pursuit of wealth are, in the long term, arguably cannibalizing that same family unit.  That family structure that has contributed so much to our growth and development is being squeezed and bled to the point that sustainable long-term prosperity will be impaired.  So the culture wars will be pursued to further divert attention from the policies, more groups and individuals will be attacked, and as the phrase goes the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Morale isn’t going to magically improve, and families will – nationally – choose rational ways to adapt regardless of which family structure is preferred.  Families are choosing to shift to different structures that work for them in light of the cutback of government programming and the accretion of wealth to a small, select strata of society.  For many of us, that will be something akin to what is known as the multi-generational family structure.  While the classic definition entails multiple generations living together as one household, like the Amish, I think that it will mean for many that while generations might not reside in the same household, there will be greater involvement up and down the generational lines as each plays a greater role in the lives of one another. 

How? 

- Paying greater attention to the logistics required by a generation as they handle childcare.

- Paying greater attention to the logistics required by elders for medical appointments, or even their finances as their cognitive capability declines.  Think that’s terrible, huh?  Some article down the road, I’ll talk about what my happened to my mother.

- Assisting elders with an increasing number of physical housework or outdoor tasks as their bodies begin to decline.

- Explaining to me for the umpteenth time again why my furshlugginer phone won’t do what the hell that it’s supposed to do.

You can fill in the rest yourselves as you get the idea. 

This is thesis of this site moving forward.  The articles will cover a variety of topics from economics and education to child- and eldercare, more than a few based upon first-hand experience. 

Because the resources are being stripped away and we will need to look out for our families and friends first and foremost.