Definition of family in general based on your own experience of family

Definition of Family
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Institutional Affiliation
Definition of Family
Humans are social beings. Therefore, the desire to have people to whom one can relate with and depend on is intricately bound in human nature. Having been born and raised in a society where close family ties are highly valued and practiced, I can attest to this fact. In the Philippines, the family structure is such that relatives live in large groups comprising children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and cousins. The close-knit structure is a source of identity, belongingness, and resilience in times of crisis. When we begun the journey to build our family as a couple, it was culturally and socially acceptable to live in the same house with my in-laws. Moreover, this is a common practice in the Philippines. My close ties with both my immediate and my husband’s family are a strong bond of belongingness that I regard as a treasure.
For these reasons, the photo that would best represent my understanding of the meaning of family is Photo A in the Appendix. Although the photo does not contain all the family members that I would like to see represented, it largely reflects my definition of family. My understanding of the family is that it is a close-knit unit of relatives that extend beyond the nuclear family members to include the siblings of each couple, in laws, nephews, cousins, grandparents, and nieces. Although the nuclear family as represented in Photo B is a pivotal component of my understanding of the family, I have been molded to become the person I am today through the contribution and support of the members of the extended family. Today, I attribute my joyful, responsible, diligent, lovable, and faithful qualities to the nurturing I received from my parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts among other close relatives. Therefore, they are my source of support, inspiration and resilience as we seek a new life in Canada.
In Canada, the statistical representations of family forms create a sharp contrast with my own experience of family as a Filipino living in Canada with a husband and four children. For example, the Canadian society recognizes a wider variety of family forms. These include the nuclear family, extended family, common-law unions, single parent families, bisexuals, and same-sex couples (gays and lesbians) (Waite & Denier, 2019). Despite the variety of family forms in Canada, there are Canadian families that live in a similar way to the close family ties of the Philippines. Such families comprise three generations staying together under one roof (Statistics Canada, 2017). However, this trend is substantially attributable to immigration patterns of the contemporary world and the significant proportion of the Aboriginals who have maintained close family ties.
Notably, Canada has in place a program of family unification under the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Through legislation and immigration policies that support the unification of families, immigrants who have obtained Canadian citizenship can invite other family members such as spouses, children, grandparents, and common-law partners living abroad to join them in Canada. This requires a verified sponsorship and the capacity of the sponsor to cater for the needs of the invited persons for a period of 3-10 years (Government of Canada, 2015). Therefore, it is reasonable to relate the existence of large families that live together to such policy initiatives. However, it is worth considering the impacts of economic forces. For example, Liu and Easthope (2016, p. 5) attribute the increase in the proportion of multigenerational households in Canada to the pressures of housing needs and the overall need to manage the rising costs of living in different parts of the country.
The number of family structures that resemble those of the Filipinos are not as conspicuous as those comprising lone parents (only parents living in the household without children), single parents (either male or female parent caring for the children), and same-sex couples (gays and lesbians) (Statistique Canada, 2015). For example, the 2016 Census estimated private households in Canada to be 14.1 million. Out of these, almost 10 million households consisted of couples that were either common-law couples or legally married and families that consisted of parents only. Of all the households counted in 2016, almost 30% comprised one person living in the household. This was the first time that such households surpassed those consisting of couples living together with their children.
Around 1867 when the Confederation was born, very few households consisted of one-person families. The majority of people in Canada lived together in large families. However, the trends changed, especially since 1957 when the proportion of one-person households rose from 7.4 percent to 28.2 percent in the last census of 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017). Putting it in a different format, it means that about 14 percent of Canadians aged above 15 years lived on their own in 2016 compared to the 1951 estimates of just 1.8 percent.
The family situation in Canada is therefore sharply different from the country I was brought up in, that is, the Philippines. For example, although more people are finding themselves living alone in their households in the Philippines, the proportion of such households is below 10 percent (Yeung, 2016). This is because the family values of staying together despite economic and social challenges are deeply entrenched in the Philippines. However, it is observable that common factors have contributed to the increase in the proportion of one-person households both in Canada and the Philippines.
The population that is largely represented in one-person households are young people and the elderly. For the young people, the ease with which they can pursue their education and careers across geographical boundaries is a major contributing factor (Patole, 2018). I can totally relate to this factor as it contributed to our decision to migrate to Canada in search of better educational and economic opportunities. Although it was a difficult decision because it threatened the strong bonds of our extended family, I and my husband had to accept the opportunities that Canada presented to us. Nevertheless, we have remained committed to the family values and practices that we were nurtured with even as we live in the Canadian society. One of these commitments include the prospects of reuniting with our extended family members gradually through the Canadian immigration program that seeks to achieve family reunification.
Apart from the geographic mobility that has been boosted by the forces of globalization, the increase in the number of one-person households has also been caused by delayed marriage as many young people seek first to be financially stable before they consider settling down with a marriage partner. Additionally, more women today are more economically empowered and many choose to live alone (Tang, Galbraith, & Truong, 2019). The higher life expectancy of women compared to men is also a factor that has resulted in more elderly women living alone after their husbands die. In such families, the children have migrated to other areas to look for employment to sustain their own families.
In terms of same-sex couples, I personally believe that family cannot be restricted or defined on the basis of sexual orientation or factors such as gender, sex, and ethnicity. I strongly believe that family should be defined on the basis of a higher set of criteria that do not discriminate people because of their genuine choices. To begin with, I believe that a family should be able to satisfy the needs of every member of the family, especially the basic needs (foods, shelter, clothing, and education). Also, a family should comprise of perso...