Lesson video

Hello learners, and welcome to our lesson on the nature and purpose of families.

For this lesson, you will need a pen and paper or something to write on, and something to write with.

During this lesson, remember you need to be in a quiet space so that you're able to concentrate without disruption.

If you are using a mobile phone, it will be good for you to turn off your notifications and end your conversations.

If you were using a desktop, it will still be good to put your phone on silent, put it away, or to turn off your mobile phone.

Finally, in this lesson, we may address some sensitive content.

If you are affected by anything during the course of this lesson, please talk to your parents and carers.

Right.

When you're ready, let's begin.

Today we're going to be talking about the nature of families, the purpose of families, and Christian, Islamic and secular views on what makes an ideal family.

Let's start off then by talking about the nature of families.

The first question we want to ask is what is a family? I want you to think about your own families.

Think about your, the people you live with.

Think about families you've met before.

Based on your experience, how would you define the word family? I want you to pause the video at this point and to write down your definition of the word family.

Brilliant, I trust at this point that you've written down your definition.

Let's examine some definitions of this word family.

The first definition says a family is a group consisting of parents and their children living together.

I wonder whether you can identify any issues or concerns with this definition.

If you're like me, you probably questioning why a family, or does a family need to live together in order for them to be classified as a family? You may also ask do people need to have children before they are considered a family.

The second definition says all the descendants are relatives of a common ancestor.

Now this is a very broad definition.

And if you're a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim, you might believe that we all have one common ancestor.

That's something that's common in the Abrahamic faiths.

And therefore, they will, this definition, it will be very, very broad, it will include all of humanity.

Of course, this is not the same for Dharmic faiths, such as Buddhism, or Hinduism.

Also, scientists such as an evolutionary biologists would disagree with this point of view.

In any case, we can recognise that this is a very broad definition of the word family.

The next definition says it's a family is a group of people connected by bloodline.

Now, one of the problems with this definition is that it's very restrictive.

For example, what happens to the in-laws, or adopted children or foster children? What happens to step-parents? Would they not be considered family because they're not related by blood? That's one of the concerns with this particular definition.

So as we can see, it's difficult to get a perfect definition, of the word family.

But we can maybe come up with a simple definition.

What about this one? A group of people connected usually, but not always, by ancestry, offspring, law or personal relationships.

This is a possible definition.

But of course this definition itself has problems. For example, how do we define a personal relationship? And does the personal relationship mean that you are related? For example, friends may have a personal relationship, does that make them family? So there are problems with all of these definitions but it's important that we understand the core elements of what a family is, and that is a group of people connected by some common factors.

And in this particular case, it's ancestry, law, personal relationship or offspring.

Now that we know what a family is, what different types of family are there? What different types of families are there? Well, family types are based on two things.

It's based on a different combination of people in the family, and it's based on the process through which these people become members of the family.

If then family types are based on these two things, the combination of people and how they became members of the family, then what different types of family can you think of? I want you to try now to think of as many different combinations of people in the family that you can think of.

For example, you can use the sentence starter, a family with, for example, a family with one parent and children, a family with adoptive children.

Those are potential examples, but it is a combination within the family.

I want you to pause the video at this stage, and think of as many family types, family combinations of that people that you can.

And I think remember, think about the different people that make up family units, and how people might become part of the family.

Pause the video at this point, and complete your task.

Good, I'm trusting this point you've completed and you made a list of the different combinations of people that you can find in different types of families.

Let's have a look at some examples.

You can have a family with two spouses, a family with two same-sex parents, a family with two parents and children, a family with step-parents, a family with two parents with adopted children, a family with grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, all living together or a family with foster parents and foster children.

There are lots of potential combinations of people that you can have in a family, which is why we have so many different types of family.

Now in contemporary British society, there are some terms that we use to refer to different types of family.

Sometimes these terms are used to help us understand or help us discuss the different family types.

So let's go through some terms. I'll take it, I'll talk you through first, the first three terms, and then I'm going to ask you a series of questions to see how much you remember, and how much you understood.

Let's look firstly then, at the first three.

The first one is single-parent families.

This is a family that is made up of one parent and a child or children.

We also have the nuclear family and this is a family made up of two parents and a child or children.

Now if you're like me, you may wonder why it's called a nuclear family rather than something like two-parent family.

Well, the word nuclear actually derives from a Latin word nucleus, which means core.

And it's called that because two parents and children were considered to be the core, and a centre of the wider family.

The third type of family is the extended family.

And the extended family refers to the wider family beyond the core, that refers to other relatives such as aunts and uncles, grandparents, nieces and nephews, they all be considered part of the extended family, not part of the core, but part of the extended family.

So we've learned about three types of families, so single-parent family, the nuclear family and the extended family.

I wonder how much you remember, I know lots has gone into your working memory but I want that to move to your short-term, and eventually your long-term memory.

So let's practise some of this knowledge and understanding that we just gained and see how well we've mastered it.

I'm going to ask you a few series, a series of multiple choice a true or false questions, I want you to shout out the answer or point at, point at the answer on your screen as soon as you can, once I finish reading the question, let's go.

Which of the following does not constitute a nuclear family? Good if you've said a father and his children, you will be absolutely right.

That is not a nuclear family, that would be a single-parent family.

Which persons are not considered part of someone's nuclear family.

Perfect if you said aunts and uncles and cousins, you're absolutely right they would not be considered part of the nuclear family, they would be considered part of the extended family.

True or false, the nuclear family is so-called because it is so powerful.

Good if you said false, you're right.

It's not because it's powerful but rather because it's core central.

True or False grandparents are part of one's extended family.

That is absolutely true.

They do, they do make up part of the extended family.

Look at this one a bit of a challenge.

Joe and Ellie were adopted by Elena and Fred, they are not in nuclear family.

Is that true or false? Well if you said false, you would be correct.

That is because Joe and Ellie would not be considered family, the nuclear family of Elena and Fred, rather the nuclear family would be the biological parents alongside Joe and Ellie.

However, if you said true, you would also be correct.

That is because a nuclear family is accurately defined as two parents and their child or children.

And that's exactly what we have with Elena and Fred, Joe and Ellie.

But of course, there is debate about whether or not you should call this family the adoptive, rather than the nuclear family.

Let's look at three more types of family, we got a step family, is a family in which at least one person or one of the parents is acting as a step-parent, we also have the reconstituted also known as the blended family, which is a family where it which consists of a couple and children that they've had together, but also the children that they've had from previous relationships.

That's because a reconstituted family usually occurs after a spouse is divorced, and is now been being remarried.

Reconstituted families therefore makeup, a family with step-parents and stepchildren.

The third type, or the sixth type is the childless family, and the childless family is a couple without children, usually a couple that is cohabitating, that means they're living together, or they are married.

So we got three more types of families.

We've learned six types of families so far, Wonder if you can remember all of them.

We talked about the single-parent family, the nuclear family, the extended family, we talked about the step family, we talked also about the reconstituted or blended family and the childless family.

I wonder how much you remember, let's go some go through some quick multiple choice or true or false questions.

True or false? Blended family is also known as a step family.

If you have said false, you are absolutely correct.

Blended family is known as a reconstituted family.

But if you said true, then you would also be correct.

That is because these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, and sometimes a blended or reconstituted family is also called a step family.

Why you may ask? Well, it's because a reconstituted or blended family usually has a, in fact most of the times will have a step-parent, and therefore it may also be referred to as a step family.

True or false? A nuclear family is so-called because it is core.

If you said true, you're absolutely correct.

A couple is only considered a family when they have children, true or false? That is absolutely false.

Of course, like I just said earlier, a spouse, spouses who are cohabitating or who are married may also be considered family even without children.

Multiple Choice what is the correct term for a family made up of a couple, their children, and their children from a previous relationship living together? If you said a blended family or reconstituted a family, then that would be the correct answer, also known as each other.

So that would be absolutely fine answer.

I wonder if you can identify based using that knowledge you've gotten, 'cause six different types, potentially seven different types with the adoptive family? I wonder if you can identify for me, the different types of families represented in the images on your screen.

Look at image number one, two, three and four, what types of families are they? In five seconds, I'm going to ask you just to shout out your answer to the screen as quickly as you can.

Good let's have a look let's see if you did really, really well and got as many as you could.

So the first picture we've got there is a man and a woman with a child, that is a nuclear family.

Two parents, a child and/or children.

The second family we've got there is an extended family, you can see aunts and uncles, moms and dad, grandparents, children, that's an extended family.

You've got a single-parent family number three, which is a mum and her children, and we've got a childless family.

We can see a spouse and what we don't see any children but we also see a wedding ring, suggests that they are married, so we've got a childless family there also.

We've learned a lot so far, we've talked about at least seven different types of families.

But why do people get married? Why do people have children? What is the purpose of a family? Well, let's examine some of the reasons that families are created.

What's the purpose of it? Well, one reason that families are important at all, one purpose of the family is to act as the basis for the rest of society.

So families enable society to continue and also to thrive.

That is because families procreate, procreation is the reproduction of offspring or creating or having children.

When families have children, it allows them to bring them up in the way they see fit, whether that's a religious upbringing, or at least teaching them their children morals and values.

It also helps them to educate their children academically, so they know about the world that they are living in.

And it also socialises children, so they know what it means to interact with society, and what are socially acceptable behaviours.

And therefore all of these things work together to procreate a stable society, a society that isn't always changing, but rather, it's got a some sort of regularity to it.

So we can see some of these PRESS factors and this is one reason why, or one purpose of the family.

It is to as act as a basis for the rest of society.

I wonder whether you can spot the mistake in this text based on what you just learned, those five factors, or PRESS factors, I'm going to read it, I want you to point to the screen and when you see or hear the mistake.

Many families in contemporary British society have families, sorry, many families in contemporary British society have families because external and internal pressures.

That should say many people.

There is external pressure from family, friends, communities, for people to create families, because it is the norm.

It destroys society and creates instability.

There is internal pressure for people to have love and companionship, someone to love and care for, and to fulfil sexual desire and to produce offspring.

Did you spot the mistakes in that text? I'm sure you did.

Of course, it is that families are not created to destroy society, and families do not create instability.

Rather they create stability and build up society.

Let's try one more.

Procreation is the adoption of offspring.

This preserves society and allows children to live, to behave in a way that is so socially unacceptable, and learn about the world.

It also allows parents to educate their children as they want, including bringing children up in the faith.

Did you spot the mistake? I'm sure you did.

Procreation is not the adoption of children, it is the reproduction of children.

And children learn to behave in a way that's socially acceptable, not socially unacceptable.

That is what we call the process of socialisation.

That is one of the PRESS factors, one reason why or one purpose of families.

Let's look at another purpose of families, and that is to protect vulnerable members of our society.

And that is because families give people a place to belong, children develop a sense of identity, because they are born into families, and they can know where they've come from.

It also gives them a support system, husband can support a wife, and a wife can support husband and both can support children and so can wives and wives, husbands and husbands.

There is a support network that's given because of the existence of the family.

It also protects vulnerable people, particularly young children from abuse, even though sometimes abuse happens in families.

And finally, it creates peace for society.

The fact that people have a sense of belonging and support system, and it protects vulnerable people alongside the PRESS factors we talked about earlier Procreation, Religious upbringing and Education, Socialisation and Stability, all of this helps to create a peaceful society.

So all of these are the reasons why or the purpose of families.

That is to help create a stable society and to protect the vulnerable people in our communities.

I wonder how much you remember.

Look at the pictures on this screen.

Can you identify the four BAPP factors? Those are four last factors that we talked about.

Can you tell me which picture is representing which purpose of the family.

Let's look at picture number one, and picture number two, three and four.

And when you're ready, just shout to the screen and tell me which one you think it's representing, which purpose? Good, let's have a go.

Let's see if you got it correct.

The first one you can see people huddling together there, they're a little community, that's a that creates a support system.

That's one of the purposes of the family.

We saw number two that is belonging gives them a sense of identity, image number three is protection, protects the vulnerable members of our society, and of course number four creates a peaceful society.

Those of you who study Christianity, you will recognise that dove there which sometimes in Christianity represents the Holy Spirit, but also commonly represents peace, so peaceful society.

But what to Christians and Muslims think about what the purpose of the family is? Do they agree with the PRESS factors we looked at early or the BAPP factors, do they agree with Procreation, Religious upbringing, Education, Socialisation, and Stability? Do they agree that those are the factors? Well, let's have a look.

Christians and Muslims agree, most Christians and Muslims agree that the purpose of family is to create a peaceful society.

And that means they want to procreate and provide for children, to educate their children, to allow for holistic health for all of the family members, to allow for constancy in society and to encircle and protect children.

So in fact, we see that Muslims and Christians actually all agree that with the generic principles, or genetic reasons why families are important, or what the purposes of families are.

So we've looked at a lot so far, we've talked about different types of family, looking at the nature of families, but we've also spent a lot of time examining the purposes of different families or families.

Let's have a look now at Christian, Islamic and Secular views on what the ideal of family is.

Is the ideal family a nuclear family, or an extended family, or a single-parent family, what is the ideal? We're going to explore Christians, Muslims and non religious people think? Let's start with Christians.

Christians believe that the nuclear family and sometimes the extended family provides or is the ideal for the world of a society.

What's the role of people in this nuclear family? While spouses should love each other, parents should love their children and raise them to within the faith and to know right from wrong, children have a duty to listen to their parents and in the Christian family, love should be at the heart of it.

Okay, at this point I want you to pause the video and do this task.

Read the following Bible verses and complete the table, you'll see four Bible verses from three from Ephesians and one from Colossians are going to read these verses and tell me what you think they mean, soon complete the table with the meanings for each.

Once you finish that I'm going to look at the possible issues that people may have with these Bible verses, and then complete the table for each checks with the potential issues that may arise.

So take a moment now and pause the video and complete the table with what you think it means and any possible issues with this passage.

Brilliant, welcome back.

I trust at this point that you did pause the video and you've written completed your table and written what you think it means and any possible issues with the passage or so.

What I want to do at this point is to go through that table with you and let's explore some of the possible meanings and also some of the possible issues that we will find there.

And this is why Christians believe the things they do about the family.

Women submit means that women should obey and allow men to, their husbands rather, to make important decisions, and husbands should be willing to make sacrifices for their families, children should respect and listen to the parents and parents shouldn't be too harsh.

But what are the issues with these interpretations? Well, women may want to work and therefore if women must submit and men don't want them to work, their husbands don't want them to work that can be problematic.

Husbands also can make unwise and unloving decisions.

Also husband love your wives I mean, it's a very big sacrifice to love in the way that Jesus loved the church because Jesus ultimately died for the peace people, this real community of believers.

So making sacrifice in that way is very, very challenging, especially giving up your own will or giving up your own life.

And children also may have unreliable parents which makes it difficult for children to obey them if they're not trustworthy or reliable.

And likewise, parents may find it difficult because children can be disobedient or disrespectful.

So there are some issues of interpretation there.

But you kind of see the fundamental reasons why Christians have developed their, these teachings about what they expect in a family and what is the ideal family.

Let's look at Islam.

Muslims believe that the ideal family is the extended family.

That is because the extended family provide support with uncles and grandparents sometimes living at home with the rest of the nuclear family, parents and children.

Also, Muslims disagree with same-sex relationships.

That is they don't agree that a nuclear family or even extended family can have two men, two husbands or two wives.

So what do the parents and children do in a Muslim family? Well, in a Muslim family, the father's role is to provide, he's the breadwinner of the family, whereas the mother's role, or the vice role, is to look after the household.

Parents both work together to teach their children morals and values and to bring them up in the religion.

And children must respect their parents and when they get older look after their parents.

And this is something that's again based on religious or sacred texts.

And in the Quran in Surah 17:23.

Allah commands Muslims to be good to their parents and to speak generous words, which is why you have this dynamic of families looking after each other parents, grandparents, in the extended family.

Okay, I want you to pause your video at this point.

I want you to use the knowledge you just gained and the different roles of family members of Islam to complete the table below.

What do husbands, wives, children, parents views, and what are the views and same-sex parenting? What's the responsibility they have towards the elderly? I'm want you to use the knowledge you just got to fill in this table for me.

So pause the video at this point, and use your new knowledge and the role of different family members in Islam to complete the table below.

Resume once you're finished.

Brilliant, I trust to this point that you've completed your table.

Let's have a look at the role of different family members in Islam, you would have remembered then that husbands should provide for their families, wives should look after the home, children must respect their parents.

Parents must teach moral values and bring them up in the faith, and there should be no same-sex families, Muslims don't believe in that.

And the elderly are important because Allah commands children to look after their parents and care for them when they're elderly.

So we can see the different roles that we have Muslims in an extended family that's the normal type of family for many Muslim families.

I wonder if you remember those things that we just discussed? Let's see how much you recall.

True or false? All Christians think women should only be housewives.

Is that true or false? That is false, all Christians do not believe that, though many traditional Christians do, many modern Christians do not accept a woman only have to be housewives.

Many Christians believe parents should discipline and punish their children in any way they see fit.

No, that's not true, that's false.

Remember we just saw earlier in Colossians, it says do not embitter or provoke your children.

For many Christians, Jesus's love for the church is the example of how a husband should love his wife.

Yes, that is true.

A husband should love his wife in the same way that Jesus loved the church and made sacrifices for the community of believers.

Christians believe children should be seen and not heard.

That is false.

That is not true.

Many Muslims believe that a woman's role is primarily in the home.

That is absolutely true.

Most Muslims believe a woman's role is primarily in the home.

Most Muslims believe they should care for their parents because they will get an inheritance.

That's false.

Most Muslims do believe they can just care for the parents, but not because everyone gets an inheritance, but because Allah commands it.

He tells them to be good to their parents.

Muslims believe parents are responsible for education, morals and character of their children.

Yes, that is all so true.

Muslim parents are responsible for the education of their children.

We've looked at Islamic and Christian views on what is the ideal family and we've also talked about the role of parents of children within a family.

But what about non-religious people? What about secular people? What do they believe about what the idea of family is? Well, secular people often base their ideas or decisions on ethical principles, and one ethical principles on which they may base these ideas is utilitarianism.

John Mill says "Actions are right as they tend to promote happy happiness." And utilitarian's believe that whatever promotes happiness, for the majority of people is ultimately the right course of action.

Let's have a look at this principle in practise and see how humanists or secular people will respond to some Christian or Islamic ideas.

So, for example, children shouldn't be raised by same-sex parents, this is an Islamic view.

How do humanist or non-religious people respond to this? Well, they may say that a homosexual couple may be really want to be parents, and therefore allowing them to do so will enable happiness and therefore it's the right thing to do.

Also, there are children without parents, and therefore allowing homosexual couples to adopt children will help solve a problem with society and create a better society.

And that's another reason why it's the correct course of action.

Women should submit to their husbands and have a traditional role raising children.

What do humanists on secular people say about this particular view, that is shared sometimes between Christians and Muslims. Well, a humanist will not agree that a woman's space is in the home or that she should submit to her husband because not all husbands are good, some husbands can be abusive, and therefore that would not be a good person to submit to or obey or listen to.

And ultimately, it's for the benefit of society for women according to humanists, to do things outside of the home as well and work and in society, they can contribute in that way, and ultimately, there can be greater happiness for more people, if this happens.

The nuclear or extended family is the ideal family, another view that's shared between Christians and Muslims. While the humanists will say sometimes divorce is the better option because we talked earlier about abuse in relationships around families, and if that happens, then, of course, a single-parent household may be the better option.

Even though here humanists say this, remember that Muslims and Christians also share this view with when it comes to abuse in relationships.

Most Muslims and most Christians will say if there is abuse in relationships, that they should be separation, and in some cases divorce, with the exception of Catholic Christians, who may separate with the purpose of reconciliation, and may not permit a divorce, so there are slightly different views here.

But we can see there are lots of different religious views and non-religious views, and how they sometimes differ.

I wonder how much you remember of that, quick fire questions? True or false, many humanists and non-religious people support same-sex couples and their adoption of children.

If you said true, then you're absolutely right.

All humanists believe that nuclear families are ideal for raising children, true or false? If you said false, you are correct.

We have learned a lot today, we've talked about the nature of the family, we talked about the purpose of families, and we've talked about Christian, Islamic and non-religious views on what makes the, or what is the ideal family.

Well done therefore, for completing your lesson today.

You've been absolutely fantastic.

Don't forget to complete your End of Lesson Quiz, your exit quiz, and remember that you also want to continue revising, going through the things that you've learned or so.

You may want to take a note of a few things that you've learned in this lesson at the end.

Thank you so much for participating.

I hope you enjoyed your lesson.

Next lesson, we'll be looking at the nature and purpose of marriage, and that will be an interesting lesson too, so I look forward to work, teaching you then.

Take care for now.