The New Traditional Family

While working on building the community and infrastructure for Ittavi, an interesting dilemma has developed. What do we call this community? What do you call the person or group that raises a child without both legally required parents in the home. Even the term “legally required” causes some issues.

• We can’t say biological parents, that leaves out parents of adopted children.
• We can’t say mother and father, that leaves out gay parents.
• We can’t say divorced or separated parents, that leaves out parents who never wed the other parent.

The whole concept of family is an interesting one. Each family is as individual as the people who make up the family. According to educators, the family forms most prevelant in Western culture are:

• Married Nuclear Families or Traditional Families: Both adults are the biological or adoptive parents of the children.
• Cohabitating Families: The couple lives together but are not married. Either one or both of them are the biological or adoptive parents of the children.
• Single-parent families: A parent who has most of the day to day responsibilities in raising the child or children.
• Blended or step families: A family consisting of a couple and their children from this and all previous relationships.
• Grandparent led families: Nearly 3 Million families in the US today are grandparents raising their grandchildren.
• Other: And finally, the “other” category which could mean a family that does not fit into any of these definitions or a combination of both.

In an effort to focus on this community, the best term we could come up with to define our families is the “New-traditional” family. We can be parents, step-parents, extended family members, caregivers or children living in the new traditional or modern family.

We can’t forget the one thing that all of these families have in common are the children.