3.

Tétel - Family

• family models (only child, large family, single-parent families)

• division of tasks within the family
• generations living together

In most families there are two children, a mother and a father. Of course, it’s difficult to tell because there are families
with more than two children and many couples get divorced and the children usually stay with the mother. In some families
there are three generations living together. This means that one or both the grandparents live with the family too, and they
help with the housework and they also look after the children while the parents are at work.
That’s the way it goes at my father-in-law. He and my mother-in-law live together with my father-in-law’s mother, my
wife’s grandmother. She’s pensioner so she cooks every day, and the others tidy up at the weekends.
In the past decades the most important change that happened was in the roles of women. Now men don’t dominate in
the families. Women are no longer only housewives who have to do the housework and look after the children but now they
can have a good job and they can build a career as well. They don’t depend on men and they can be more and more
independent. Another important change has been in the number of children which has continuously decreased. It is due to
the advanced medical technology.
The most important function of the family is to bring up children. Families, if work well, can provide the perfect
environment for children to experience the unconditional love, how to fit in society and learn the proper social skills. Some
people say that children will follow what they see in their families. If they grow up in a family where there is love and many
children, they will probably have a similar family. If somebody grew up in a broken family, he/she will never know how a
complete family works.
Nowadays, a lot of children grow up in a one-parent family, which has a bad effect in the future. It has a financial and
an emotional side too. If there is only one parent working it is more difficult to earn enough money. If the parent works too
much to maintain the family, he/she can’t be together with the children to give them love and emotional support. Another
problem is that young couples have only one child, which can cause huge difficulties for the society in the future.
In Hungary most couples have a religious ceremony in church and a civil ceremony in the registry office. They don’t
have to be on the same day. For many of them the religious ceremony is the big occasion and after the wedding there is big
wedding party, often in a restaurant where they eat, drink and dance all night. After that they go on honeymoon.
My family isn’t so large: my mother, and my own family: my son and my wife. We had our 12th wedding anniversary
last week. My son – Bence – is 7 yeras-old, he’s a tall child with brown hair and big blue eyes. He is very lively and slippy. He
likes playing football, dancing and drawing.
My wife is 36 years old, she’s a sales and marketing manager at her father’s family business. Our son takes after his
father, so he has brown hair and blue eyes too. There's a strong resemblance between them.