A group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head

Family can also be two or more persons who share resources, share responsibility for decisions, share values and goals, and have commitment to each other over time.

consists of parents and children, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts or uncles, cousins etc.

consists of at most a father, mother and dependent children / the “traditional” family

Two families brought together due to divorce, separation, and remarriage.

In some circumstances, the step family comes to live either with or in place of a member of the nuclear family.

a member is separated from the rest of the family (due to employment far away; military service; incarceration; hospitalization). They remain significant members of the family.

one or more of the children is legally a temporary member of the household. This “temporary” period may be as short as a few days or as long as the child’s entire childhood.

the parents are members of different racial identity groups

either a father or a mother who is singly responsible for the raising of a child (biological or adopted)

A family where one or both of the parents’ sexual orientation is gay or lesbian. This may be a two-parent family, an adoptive family, a single parent family or an extended family.

the adopted child is of a different racial identity group than the parent

A family where the parents have immigrated to another country as adults. Some family members may continue to live in the country of origin, but still be significant figures in the life of the child.

moves regularly to places where they have employment

couple without any child or children, and who may be living all by themselves; may or may not have household help to assist them around the house.

The parents gather their children for a family meeting to collaboratively discuss and set rules for screen time, ensuring a balance between technology use and other activities.

A parent allows a child to stay late at night even if the child needs to go to school early the next morning.

As the child sits alone at the playground, their parents remain engrossed in their phones.

In the supermarket,  the parent sternly dictates to their child exactly what items they can and cannot put into the shopping cart.

a graphical map of a family’s history that traces and illustrates patterns in its structure and characteristics using special symbols to describe relationships, major events, diseases, traditions, social andpersonal beliefs and rituals, cultural heritage, religious beliefs, value systems, philosophies about life, and the dynamics of a family over several generations.