Nuclear or Extended?

Considering the economic situation that we are in today, living in a nuclear family is the most practical way. More than the economic crisis, decision-making and responsibility add up to the potential problems in having an extended family.

Economics
This is simple mathematics. If there are more heads in the family, there are more mouths to feed too. If there are more people in the family, there must be more resources needed to sustain a decent living. More than electricity and water consumption, basic personal belonging for hygiene and other purposes have also to be considered.
There are still other things not to be taken for granted. Economics also considers the atmosphere and lifestyle of each of the family members. Questions on how the house must be set up also spell financial outcome. An example is the way the house should be ventilated is different according to the need of each member of the family. A grandfather may need a more relax and breezy ventilation while the other might need a cooler one. This requires an added air-conditioning unit to consider each need. Also another example is the family’s food. The different members of the family have specific diets. Each member of the family has special needs.

Decision-making - Who is the head of the family?
Another potent problem is decision-making. A nuclear family has the father to decide about family affairs most often. It is simple and if ever there is someone else to question the decision, it is the better half. However, what could have been an easy power structure in a family is made complicated in extended families. The father maybe the head of the family but he has to recognized the needs, wants and opinion of someone of his age, say for example an auntie or an uncle, or someone older than he is, i.e. grandparents.
For an extended family, the children will grow very close to whoever is in the family aside from their parents and siblings. This will further enhance close family ties. But there would be cases that children will be closer to grandparents than to their parents. This will create a rift that can be petty or serious between family members and elders or even among the young.

Responsibility
Connected to decision-making is the responsibility of the family members. In a nuclear family, job description is simple. Often, the father is the provider and the mother takes care of the household chores or the other way around. Another possibility is both the parents work for economic reasons and the children are left to the care of a house helper. However, in an extended family, the whole household’s responsibilities get mixed up, as it gets complicated on who is going to provide and take charge of the chores. There is the question on who is going to work and the different tasks given to each one.

Today’s financial crisis is really hitting the basic unit of the society, the family. A nuclear family has the better chance of balancing the lever of finances, as it does not have extended responsibilities outside the procreated family. Financial assistance to relatives or to his/her family of orientation is highly encouraged but not obligatory.