Changes and Challenges Our Families Face Today:

Sociologists and other social scientists have observed the following changes and challenges our families face today:

  1. Marriages are dissolving with increasing frequency due to abandonment, separation, family squabbles and disorganization.
  2. Unwed motherhood and single parenthood are increasingly common.
  3. Working mothers are carrying increasing economic responsibility for their children.
  4. The onset of the “electronic age.” Children turn to computer, Internet, radio, television, audio and videotapes as their information source of up-to-the-moment information on trends, values, manners, customs, or ethics.
  5. Generation ago the parents, siblings and teachers were the most visible and powerful role models. Now, role models come from sports, theatre, film and animals made famous and visible by the media.
  6. Mass poverty has forced mothers and fathers to seek work here and abroad leaving very little time for the family to be together for the emotional nurturance of the children.
  7. The challenge of consumerism has placed tremendous pressure on our children to desire goods and items advertised by the media. This encourages the value of materialism among our children.
  8. The rising cases of child abuse and child labor expose our children to the harsh reality of life especially among poor families.
  9. Drug addiction, alcoholism, violence and sexual permissiveness have gone to an all-time high.
  10. Western ideas on sexual revolution, premarital relationships, live-in relationships, abortion, use of contraceptives, gender liberation, materialism and extreme individualism are slowly but surely creeping into our social and cultural system.
General Results of these Changes and Modern Trends

The above-mentioned changes and challenges have resulted to the following general results:

  1. These changes and modern trends brought about by advanced technology create fewer positive role model relationships, less sense of community, less development of family relationships, less sense of bonding and responsibility. It results in greater disciplinary problems, delinquency and crime.
  2. More and more children live with just one parent. Parents spend less and less time with their children. More and more high school and college students are working part time. We have more and more kids who come home to an empty house in the afternoon… child core centers bulging to the seams… kids without a sense of belonging and teens spending increased time on the job. There’s no one left to give the emotional nurturing, the support, the sharing of values, the discipline and responsibility of our nation’s kids.
  3. The kids are suffering. Teen-agers report experiences of alienation, feelings of separateness and painful aloneness. Suicides, dropouts, crime and drug abuse rates are exceedingly high. Runaways are increasing and so is teen-age pregnancy. Working teenagers are frequently exhausted and unable to stay awake in class.
  4. The emphasis on being one of the “beautiful people” places tremendous pressure on our youth. Stress in children has become commonplace. It’s just too difficult for them to go for this ‘world of glitz and glamour.’ Unrealistic expectations are demoralizing our nation’s youth. Teen suicides have jumped dramatically.
  5. More and more families are broken and disorganized due to increasing rates of separation, divorce, abandonment, stark poverty and family squabbles.