Multigenerational Families

Here is my submission for "discussion 2" in my Government 1301 course. Being that this is an informal discussion page, please excuse any structural flaws or sketchy ideas. The professor asks, "The following USA TODAY article speaks to an issue you are reading about: "The Changing Face of America." After reading the article, explain why you think this trend will have a positive OR a negative impact on the nation. http://www.usatoday.com/news/bythenumbers/2005-08-16-multigenerational- My response is: "There are several ways one could justify and/or promote the multigenerational family. However, I would suggest that there are problems presented and represented in this family that prevail over anything else. I must rush to say that, first of all, the multigenerational family is more a “result” than a “cause” of the breakdown in family integrity. For quite some time we have witnessed the depravity of our society and the moral degradation that overwhelms us. In a time when teenage unwed pregnancies, absentee fathers and financial instability are at an alarming high, there must be reevaluation. Unfortunately there has been a misunderstanding, and consequently a warped definition, as relates to the sanctity of marriage. Gender roles continue to be misrepresented in the family and young people are confused as to what a father and mother really is. One family is led by a single mother because the father is caught up in an illegal pursuit of the materialistic. Another family is led by a grandmother who is raising the childgren of her crack addicted daughter. Some husband and wife are providing quarters and substance to a grown son and his family because he hasn’t been able to attain adequate work. Other couples are now caring for an elderly mother as a result of ridiculous medical expenses and medications. The result is an unending cycle that only causes the lines of demarcation to be erased from one generation to the next. Minimum wagers continually struggle to work almost two full days of work to buy one full tank of gas. It will never end if we don’t stop and reinstate the single family unit. Our young people need to find themselves products of a Mother (female) and father (male) that are in covenant relationship striving to raise and rear them. It has been said that “it takes a village to raise a child.” However, what if the villages are plagues with moral decay. There have been no adequate examples of what normalcy was meant to be. This promotes a never ending cycle of underachievers. I believe that we all have a responsibility to raise our OWN children WITH the person that helped to conceive them. Men need to stand up and realize that “if a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat” and step up to the responsibility that is rightfully thiers. Women need to stand up for themselves and demand the respect and adoration that they were crowned with at creation. The result will be responsible citizens raising more responsible citizens."