Lesson video

Hello, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marx and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

Today, we're going to be learning all about the nature of families, including the role of parents and children, particularly within religious families and within Christianity.

And today, we'll think about this as theologians, philosophers and social scientists.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain different family types, the role of parents and children and Christian teachings on these.

Let's start with our key terms. Blended family.

A family group that includes the parents and children from their previous relationships.

Also called a reconstituted family.

Extended family, a family group including more than the nuclear family, e.

g.

grandparents living together or nearby.

Nuclear family, a family group consisting of parents and children only.

Same sex family, a family group consisting of parents who are the same gender and children only.

A single parent family, a family group consisting of one parent and children only.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

So today's lesson will have three sections.

The nature of families, the role of parents and the role of children.

So let's start with our first section then, the nature of families.

So Andeep, Sophia, Lucas and Aisha are discussing who they live with.

Andeep says, "I live with my mom, dad and my two sisters." Sophia says, "I live with my foster mom most of the time, but some weekends I go to my dad's." Lucas says, "I live with my mom and my dad.

My uncle also lives with us." And Aisha says, "I live with my mom, dad, grandma, granddad and two brothers." And when we're being social scientists, we look at these trends in society and I would like us to think about which one might be the most common in the UK today.

Which of these is the most common in the UK of these four different setups? Pause the video and have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, the most common setup may be Andeep's where he lives with his mom, dad and his two sisters.

Are there any other family arrangements that people might have that aren't on here? Pause the video and have a think.

And again, you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, that might really depend on how you define what a family is and sociologists study what families are, including their structure and how they function.

Family's a very important part of how society is and how it runs and how it influences us as individuals.

They will look at how families are different depending on factors such as culture and how families might have changed over time.

So they'll look at the differences and how it might change over time or be different in different places.

So first of all, let's think about how do we define what family is then? Well, family might be defined as the people you live with, the people you're related to, the people you are close with and the people who you choose to trust.

These things can all be an understanding of what family is.

How would you define family? Pause the video and have a think, and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, the Office for National Statistics data looks at different types of family in the UK over time.

So as I said, as social scientists, we may like to look at how things have changed over time to kind of understand what might have influenced this.

And so we have here numbers in thousands of couples who were married in the National Statistics for England and Wales in '96, 2006, 2016 and 2023.

So let's have a look at these different types of families and how many we've already mentioned.

So we've got married couple family, civil partner couple family, opposite sex cohabiting, so they're living together without being married, same sex cohabiting and a lone parent family.

And what are the different trends that we have here then? What can you spot? Which type of family has remained relatively consistent over this time? Pause the video and find one that has remained relatively consistent, meaning it's stayed pretty much the same.

It's not gone too up or too down.

Pause video and have a think and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

That's right, the married couple family.

The rest have increased over time, but this one stayed relatively consistent with similar figures across the four different datasets.

Why does civil partner couple have an X in the 1996 data? Can you think of a reason why? Pause the video again and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we can see here that civil partnerships were only introduced in 2004, so that wasn't an option before then, which is why there were no figures for it in 1996.

And there's been a steady increase since they've been introduced for 2006, '16 and then '23.

So what other trends can you spot here? We've got an increase in lone parent families and an increase in opposite sex cohabiting family couples.

So people choosing to live together who are opposite sex but not married.

But one of the biggest increases we've got really is the number of families who have same sex cohabiting couples.

So it's a same sex relationship and they're a family and they're cohabiting.

Perhaps that's due to society's attitudes and whether things are more acceptable in society.

People also may be able to access like IVF treatment and being able to adopt and foster children too in a same sex setting.

So time for another check then to see what we've done.

Here is the Office for National Statistics data on families over time in the UK.

Which family type has the least number in 2023? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

So the least number is same sex cohabiting couples.

Even though they've had quite a high increase from 1996, it's still the lowest number in terms of the different types of family setups.

So there are many different types of family and sociologists have given some of them specific terms, but not all of them.

They may include children that have been fostered or adopted or biological children and there might be different views on the pros and cons of different family types and in sociology, this is a big topic of discussion as it is for us in religious studies.

So there's different views on which type of family might be seen as the best for society as a whole, but generally, people may argue that as long as there's love and commitment within that family and it's a stable environment for the children, that that family is a good family.

So which of the following is a family group that includes parents and children from previous relationships? Single parent family, blended family, nuclear family or extended family? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see you've done in a moment.

Well done, it's a blended family.

Sometimes it's called reconstituted.

So where one or more of the parents have had children in a previous relationship with previous partners and they come together and they form a new blended family.

But with all these different types of families in society today, Christians might look to their sources of authority for guidance on what is the preferred family type.

And the Bible can give some guidance, but not direct guidance, because of how society's changed since the Bible was written down, but it can give some ideas.

And here's one passage that's often used by Christians.

So this is in Exodus in the Old Testament part of the Bible, it says, "Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." And this is part of the 10 Commandments.

So what does it say here that could support a certain type of family then? Which family type might this passage be referring to? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well, it has here, "Honour your father and your mother," so could this suggest a nuclear family? You've got children with their parents.

Whilst it doesn't say nuclear family, could that be what it's referring to? The Bible also says, "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives and especially for their own household has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." And this is a letter written to Timothy that's found in the New Testament part of the Bible.

So what could this quotation suggest about people who don't look after their wider family? Because here we've got your relatives, especially those in your own household.

So it seems like they're not only the people in your household, but your wider relatives.

What does it suggest about those people who do not look after those people? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well, this seems to suggest that they're not living as good Christians, which is even worse than not being a Christian, 'cause it has this phrase here, "They've denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." So there's something about caring for your relatives and those in your household that seems to be very important for what it means to be a Christian in this letter to Timothy.

Which type of family might this be referring to then? If it's about people in your household and beyond that, what could it be referring to? Pause the video and have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

This refers to caring for relatives, so it could be referring to an extended family.

Again, it hasn't used the phrase extended family, but you could interpret this passage to mean that you need to look after your extended family, couldn't you? Not just those in your household, but those beyond.

So Fiona and Rachel now are gonna discuss what they think is the best type of family and they're both Christians.

Fiona is an Anglican Christian, so that's Church of England, and she says, "Whilst I think it's good to have a nuclear family," so that's parents and children living in one household together, "Marriages don't always work out, so I believe we should welcome and support single parents." So maybe it's good to aim for a nuclear family or it's good to have those.

It doesn't mean that's always how it's going to be and we shouldn't exclude people for not being in those nuclear families.

Rachel is a Plymouth Brethren Christian and she says, "I believe the best family type is the nuclear family.

The Bible is clear that it starts with a mother and a father." So Rachel there is thinking about that passage from Exodus and the 10 Commandments to honour your mother and father.

She might be thinking about that as she forms this view that the nuclear family is the best type of family for her within Christianity.

And I wonder which of these we could argue has the most convincing argument if we had to choose between Fiona's view and Rachel's? So let's do another check then.

Christianity seems to prefer a nuclear family based on which teaching? So which of these teachings could seem to suggest that a nuclear family would be best? Love your neighbour, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth, honour your mother and father, turn the other cheek.

Which of these? Choose one, pause the video, have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, it was C, that passage we had from the 10 Commandments to honour your father and mother.

This passage seems to suggest a nuclear family with opposite sex couple who are married with children living together in a household.

So time for a practise task to see what we've learned then.

You're going to explain two religious beliefs on the nature of families.

You're going to refer to sacred writings or another source of religious belief and teaching in your answer.

We're going to do this from a Christian perspective.

And so the guidance is that for both beliefs, 'cause you're going to do two beliefs, you're going to give a point and then develop it, and the way you can do that is one Christian belief on the nature of families is and then because.

So both of them are going to have that, but for one of them, you're going to refer to a sacred writing or a source of religious belief and you might say in the Bible, Jesus says, church leaders say.

You're gonna say what it teaches.

It could be the specific quote or a general teaching from there, and then you're going to apply that to our question, which is about the nature of family.

So this means or this shows.

So you're going to do two points, both developed and with one of them you're going to link with a source of authority.

So pause the video and off you go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some great thinking there.

So I asked you to explain two religious beliefs on the nature of families and your answer could have said, "Some Christians believe the preferred type of family is the nuclear family.

This is because the Bible says you should honour your mother and father.

They believe this means a family is a man, woman and child or children." The second point, "Some Christians believe you should look after all your relatives, as the Bible says that not providing for them is worse than an unbeliever and this shows that the extended family is important." And what I've done in these answers, in both of them, I've put a source of authority, which is a bonus, but you only have to do it for one.

So let's have a look for them.

In the first point I've said, "In the Bible it says you should honour your mother and father." That's in the 10 Commandments.

And in the second one I've said, "In the Bible that it says not providing for your relatives is worse than an unbeliever." And I've stated where it came from in each of them.

So well done for your hard work there.

So on to our second section then, the role of parents.

So there are different views as to what role parents should play in their children's lives, and here's a few.

We've got to love their children, to be role models for their children, to protect their children from harm, to guide and support their children, to provide for their children, e.

g.

food and to educate their children.

Can you think of any other roles that parents might have to play in their children's lives? Pause the video and have a think.

You can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

You might have said something around providing financially for them and supporting them in their next steps in life.

Alongside these general roles, a key role for Christian parents is to bring their children up within the religion.

So for example, by taking them to church, getting them baptised, reading and learning the Bible and teaching them how to pray.

So this idea is common across many religions that you have a duty as a parent to show the way of your religion to your children and then they can choose of themselves if they take it up.

So time for a quick check.

Which of the following would a Christian parent ensure their children do as part of a Christian upbringing? A, go to school, B, read the Bible, C, learn to read and D, make new friends? Which of these might be specifically to do with Christian families? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, it was B.

That's the one that would be specific to Christianity.

Well done.

So Christians will look a different sources of authority for guidance on their role as parents.

So one source of authority is in the book of Ephesians, which is in the New Testament of the Bible and it says, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." So here we have this idea of teaching children about Christianity, showing them and instructing them on what Christianity is.

And then we've got in the book of Proverbs, which is in the Old Testament part of the Bible, "Start the children off on the way they should go and even when they're old, they will not turn from it." So the idea is that you can teach children right and wrong when they're children and then later, they still have that sense of what's right and wrong and what the right path is for them to do.

And thirdly, we have got in the Catholic Catechism, "Parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelising their children.

Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith." So here we have this idea that even from an early age, children should be learning about Christian practises and ideas and mysteries and teachings and beliefs from an early age.

So here we've got three sources within Christianity that really do encourage parents to be training and teaching their children about what Christianity is.

And social scientists would be very interested in this as a form of socialisation.

How are those children being encouraged to be part of the same religion, faith and ideas that the parents have? Richard's gonna share his view on his role as a father and Richard is a Seventh Day Adventist Christian and he says, "As a Seventh Day Adventist, I particularly value education both within and beyond our religion.

Education will help my children understand their role in society, but also how to live according to God's plan.

We read the Bible to help us understand what's right and wrong.

It's an important role for me as a parent to ensure my children are educated." Here we have that idea of education and instruction and training, a bit like we had from those sources of authority earlier, really coming through strongly with Richard's views here.

Danielle's gonna share her views on her role as a mother now and she's a Catholic Christian.

"The Catholic Catechism teaches me to respect my children and in my role as their parent, to educate them in our faith.

They were baptised when they five months old and they both attend Catholic primary school.

We pray to God and read the Bible every day together.

We go to mass every Sunday and they attend Sunday school.

Mary, mother of Jesus, is my role model as she is a great example of being a mother." So here again, we have this emphasis on raising the children, showing them how to understand the religion and be part of the different ceremonies even from a very early age.

So here we have Danielle practising something called infant baptism, bringing the children in even from the age of five months old into the church.

So there are many ways that a Christian can fulfil their role as a parent.

And together, we're going to give one way a Christian parent might fulfil their role and one way could be to read the Bible with their children.

So they're reading the Bible to understand the stories, understand the story of Christianity and what might be right and wrong and the right behaviours and attitudes to have as a Christian.

So over to you then.

Give one way a Christian parent might fulfil their role.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, I've got here taking their children to church, but other answers could be pray with their children, educate their children in Christianity and teach them right and wrong.

Well done.

So time for another practise task to see what we've learned.

We're gonna complete the table on the role of parents in Christianity by developing the point with something they do with their children and explaining why this is important.

So we've got a table here with two points and each point is what a parent might do within Christianity to fulfil their role as a parent, and we we're going to develop it and then say why that's important.

So the first point is, "Many Christians will educate their children in religion," and the second point is, "Many Christians will involve their children in Christian practises." So you are now going to develop each of those and explain why they're important.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some great thinking there.

So I asked you to develop each point and then explain why it was important.

And the points were, "Many Christians will educate their children in the religion," and you might have said as a development, "They'll read the Bible with them and this is important, because it will teach them Christian teachings, including what is right and wrong." The second point is, "Many Christians will involve their children in Christian practises.

Could have developed this with, "They'll get them baptised and take them to church on a Sunday and this is important, because it introduces children to the practise of Christianity so that they will follow them as they grow up." Well done.

So onto our third section then, the role of children.

Christians may look to different sources of authority for guidance on the role of children.

So firstly, we've got here one of the 10 Commandments, which is in Exodus in the Old Testament part of the Bible, it says, "Honour your father and mother." And this could imply that children have to show respect to their parents.

Then we've got in Proverbs, which again is in the Old Testament, "The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother will be pecked out by ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures." So this seems to be that you shouldn't look down or dismiss your parents or sort of scorn them, but look up to them even if your mother's aged, you know, because you're going to be punished afterwards.

And then we have got here in the Catholic Catechism, "Children in turn contribute to the growth and holiness of their parents.

Each and everyone should be generous and tireless in forgiving one another for offences, quarrels, injustices and neglect." So here we've got this idea of being kind and forgiving to parents, even if you're arguing.

So even if there's arguments happening in the family, find a way to be generous and forgiving of one another.

So this seems to imply different roles that children have within a family too.

We've looked at the roles that parents have with their children and here it's thinking about, well, what role do those children have within those Christian families then? So here we've got a group of Christians who are discussing their role in their behaviour towards their parents.

We've got Grace, Andrew, Charlie and John.

And Grace says, "The 10 Commandments tell me to honour my parents, which I try to always do." Andrew says, "When I'm told off by my dad, I try to remember to show respect, even if I'm upset with him." And John says, "I look after my parents in their old age as they looked after me when I was young." And Charlie says, "I try to be respectful to my parents even when we're arguing." So you can see here the different sources of authority that might have informed them.

We've got the 10 Commandments, we've got the Catechism saying that even if you're arguing with your parents, you need to stay respectful and be forgiving.

We have the idea of showing respect to our elders.

So both Andrew and John here are talking about showing respect to the older parents.

Maybe Andrew's inspired by the passage about ravens plucking his eyes out if he looks scornfully at his parents and then John here is wanting to pay back what his parents gave to him when they looked after him when he was young.

Let's do a quick check.

The 10 Commandments tells children to honour their parents.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is true.

One of the 10 Commandments was to honour your mother and father.

Well done.

So time for another check then to see what we've done.

You're going to complete this table by adding a source of authority and explaining it.

So we've got two points here about the role of children within Christian families and you're going to find a source and then explain it for each of them.

The first point is.

One role of children in Christianity is to show respect to their parents.

And the second one is, another role of children in Christianity is to be kind to their parents.

For each of those, find a source from what we've talked about so far in the lesson and then explain it.

Pause the video, off you go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done for your work there.

So I gave you two points about the role of children within families in Christianity and you needed to find a source and an explanation for each of them.

So let's see what we've got.

So the first point was, one role of children in Christianity is to show respect to their parents, and the source you could have used is in the Bible where it says, "Honour your mother and your father," and that was in the 10 Commandments in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament.

And the explanation for that would be, "This means that children should value their parents and show this by honouring them." The second point was, another role of children in Christianity is to be kind to their parents.

And the source for this could be that the Bible says not to mock or scorn your mother or father.

Remember that quote about the ravens? That was in Proverbs in the Old Testament.

And the explanation for this could be, "This means that children should not look down on their parents or dismiss what they say and do for them." So let's summarise what we've done today then.

The nature of families, including the role of parents and children.

Sociologists have created terms for different types of families, including single parent, nuclear, blended, extended and same sex.

National data shows how the numbers of different family types has changed over time.

Christian teachings suggest that nuclear and extended families are preferred.

Christian teachings, e.

g.

the 10 Commandments, show the role of children includes honouring and being kind to parents.

Christian teachings show the role of parents includes to educate children, involve them in Christian practises, such as going to church and teach them right and wrong, e.

g.

reading the Bible.

So well done for your hard work today and I hope to see you again soon.

Bye-bye.