Today’s family setup faces more challenges as compared to the past decades. This closely relates to a change in the cultural values that were upheld in the past and also the economic changes that make the role of women in the family change. The children are the major parties affected by these challenges since they get confused and cannot understand the cause of what they go through. The psychological torture they go through only worsens the situation. They become undisciplined, and even their academic excellence is affected (Jaffe 150). The various challenges can be put under control, but sometimes parents become too busy with their careers that they do not take enough time to reflect on the family issues. Adults also get affected by the family challenges especially in cases of divorce and financial crisis. at times, the psychological and emotional stress they go through make them indulge in activities such as alcoholism and other drug addictions.
According to research carried out by Brands (2012), one of the major challenges faced by today’s family. The rate of divorced, separated and parents who were never married continues to increase across the world. The single parents especially women, often bear a heavy burden of responsibility as they try to strike a balance between parenting and financial freedom. Incidences of grandparents taking care of their grandchildren are on the rise as their parents go to look for money. The male parents are also affected as well since they have custodial responsibilities to meet. They, therefore, have to work hard to meet the material needs of their children, a factor that makes most of the fathers physically absent in the upbringing of their children. There are various causes of divorce in the modern world. For example, getting married for the wrong reasons is a major cause of divorce. While some people get into marriage purely for procreation and companionship, some get into the institution so as to get the identity of marriage. Lack of a common vision of success is another cause of divorce. When the couple holds different ambitions of future expectations, chances are they will not last long in the marriage owing to lack of a common goal. When the expectations in marriage are not fulfilled, most couples express the dissatisfaction in terms of quarrels, complaints, threats, punishing and being nagging. Finances play a major role in divorce too. This does not always imply the lack of finances, but the different concepts one holds on the use of money. If one believes in saving and the partner believes in living for today the financial conflict will definitely arise. Likewise, if one partner believes in investing for the future and the other is opposed to that, they always have disagreements on finances. Some partners do not have ground rules for solving their conflicts. Having different opinions is inevitable in marriage but getting a compromise is a challenge. Sometimes people may feel like they are disrespected, and their feelings do not count, leading to divorce.
The absence of a father figure in today’s family is a major challenge. In a research done by ., a responsible father does not only act as a mentor in the children’s lives but also acts as a security against teenage drug abuse, early pregnancies and criminal activities in children. Mentoring the young people improves their respect towards people in the society as the teachers, parents and peers. It enables them to stay focused on the future and helps them face challenges of life courageously. Active fathers contribute to a significant empowerment to the children and strengthen the family bond thus improving the well-being of the whole community at large. According to Jaffe (2009), majority of gang members come from families where they feel alienated and neglected. Such children get comfort from their colleagues and do not find any wrong in the criminal activities they get involved in.
One of the contributors of a healthy family is effective communication between the parents and their children. Communication entails paying attention to other people’s feelings and expressing one's feelings. It avoids incidences of hurting one another thus promoting peaceful coexistence. Poor communication is what characterizes many families today. The communication is unclear and in most cases the individuals end up hurting each other. Poor communication is known to be one of the major causes of high divorce rates in the society (Jaffe 99). Communication can be verbal or non-verbal. Families today lack enough time and commitment to promoting effective communication. They mostly live in the same house but rarely share their feelings and fears thus it is not possible for one to get comfort in the family.
Another major challenge in today’s family is the negative influence of the media. As much as the media is used as a tool for educating and enlightening people, it has very negative influence especially on the children. Too much time spent on the social media today reduces family time thus family members become distant, and their communication is affected. In a research done by Tarascon (2011), daily usage of media increases the chances of suffering from depression, psychological disorders and anxiety, especially for the teenagers and preteens (Brands 160). A depressed child tends to overreact on small issues and quarrel a lot with the parents, worsening the situation. If not carefully controlled the social media can lower a child’s academic performance since it takes most of the child’s time and attention. Many parents do not give any restrictions to their children on the usage of the internet, and the children can access all the sites including those with violent videos and pornographic sites. In a study Brands (2012), about 26% of children aged two years have televisions in their bedrooms and there is no time limit for watching (Jaffe 200). On a given day, about 68% of the young children watch the television for an average of two and a half hours. An average child spends about 42 hours weekly watching television mostly the children spend time playing video games, listening to music on the radio or surfing on the internet. This impacts negatively on the relationship of the kids with their parents since they do not form any bond thus cannot even communicate effectively. The dynamic changes in economic structure make it necessary for both men and women to go to work. In most cases, the parent’s careers are very busy such that getting enough time to spend with their children. The parents rarely have time to know the progress of their children both socially and academically. Such children feel neglected and turn to other vices such as criminal gangs where they find love and attention from their fellow gang members. Parents and guardians have a responsibility of being the children’s role models by reducing the amount of time spent with the families.
Lack of guidance to the children by the parents is another challenge that faces families today. Such children become undisciplined. The wide communication gap between the parents and their children make it easier for the children to engage in morally unacceptable behavior without the knowledge of their parents. For one to instill discipline in their children there must be some training on the same. The training is aimed at producing a certain favorable character in the children especially on mental and moral improvement (Brands 25). The family set up is the first socializing agent where the children learn the basics of life. With a majority of parents busy with their careers, the children have no option, but to look for the knowledge elsewhere (Tarascon 120). Their morals thus are not based on family relations but their own creation of morals as understood from the media and peers.
In conclusion, the various challenges that families face today are mainly due to changes in factors like economy, changes in the role of women and the media influence. Many parents are too busy in their careers that they lack time to spend with their families. The issue of divorce also is another major challenge in the modern families; people getting married for the wrong reasons and different perceptions in matters like finance bring about divorce. Poor communication is another major challenge of families today. It does not only lead to divorce but also breaks the family ties making families unable to cope well with each other.
Works cited
Brands, Henry William. The modern family challenges. Oxford University Press, 2012.
Tarascon, J-M., and Michel Armand. "Issues and challenges facing rechargeable lithium batteries." Nature 414.6861 (2011): 359-367.
Jaffe, Dennis T., and Sam H. Lane. "Sustaining a Family Dynasty: Key Issues Facing Complex Multigenerational Business‐and Investment‐Owning Families."Family Business Review 17.1 (2004): 81-98.
