Nuclear Famiies

Once upon a time families included grandparents and aunts and uncles—you know extended familes. The concept of the nuclear family of mom, dad and the kids is relatively new. With this modernization of the family picture came loss—of companionship, know-how from people who had already raised kids, a listening ear and smiling face, someone to hug the young parent when the work just gets overwhelming. Heck, just being able to step out of the house for a few minutes knowing your child is not alone inside—all of that got lost when families shrank to parents and their children.
And so life became even more challenging. Parenting experts sprang up in the form of medical experts, like Dr. Spock—people who never had kids giving advice to mothers and fathers! Come on!! Does that make any sense at all? Can there really be a way to raise kids that is one size fits all? I don’t know. What do you think?