First I Would Like to Tell You Something About a Typical Czech Family. I Think That a Typical

Family life

First I would like to tell you something about a typical Czech family. I think that a typical Czech family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the results of changes in society. So today it is difficult to say how does an average Czech household seem.

For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. I think that it must be very difficult for the child, who lives in one-parent family because every child should be brought up by the both parents. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents. I think that people can prevent from their divorce if they try to live together without marriage for some time. Then they will know if they are able to live together and have a family.

The other reason, which causes changes in family life, is economic situation. Many young people have big economic problems. They have not lasting habitation or work, so they can not afford to have a child. On the other hand a lot of people prefer their own career, so they found their own families much later.

The third reason for family changes is health. There are many young couples that cannot have children because of their health problems. Our health is endangered by air and water pollution very much and the whole environment is very damaged.

There are also some other families without children. They are mainly elder couples. They had children but the children have already left their parents, so they stay alone.

Another change has been caused by the fact that people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people’s lives, there are many households which consists of only one person or one adult and children.

You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

If somebody has a wide family and lives together with grandparents it can be good but it can also bring a lot of problems for the family. In these families there are three generations. They can help themselves mutually but the differences in their opinions on lot of things can be so big, so it can be reason for many clashes. I do not live in family such like these but I have a lot of friends who live with their grandparents together and most of them have a quite good relationship with them. Members of family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their hometown to work, and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions. Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many kilometres in order to spend the holiday together. But it concerns especially the Americans.

Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities for the individual to take part in activities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organised group. Nowadays a lot of teenagers of age of majority live apart from his parents on their own. Either they have their own flat or if they are studying at university they live in a hostel. It is very comfortable for the young people if they still live with their parents but living on their own forces them to take care of themselves, so it could be very useful for them.