FAMILY AS A PRIMARY SOCIAL GROUP

The Roles and Responsibilities of Members of a Family as a Primary Social Group

To enjoy and sustain the family as a primary social group, each member has vital roles to play. The family is the source from which the society take its root. Children and adults learn responsibilities from home before they go out to the larger society to demonstrate it. An adage says “charity begins at home”.

General Functions of the Family

The following are the general functions of the family:

Procreation: bringing new members of the family into the world for continuity of the family and the society.
Provision:The basic necessities of life such as food, shelter and clothing are provided in the family.
Moral Guidance:Training of the children in line with the acceptable norms of the society in good character formation.
Education:Family helps to give formal and informal education to children.
Peaceful Co-existence:Peace in the larger society starts from home. The parents settle disputes that may arise among family members.
Means of Identity:Family name is born by all members of the family which makes them to be different and give due recognition in the society. Most cultures abhor fatherless children without proper family attachment.
Communal life:Members of the family are bond together and see themselves as being bound together by love. They share together in the times of good and bad.

Roles of the Father in the Family

In the family, the father performs the following roles:

Providing love and care for the wife and children.
Providing moral guidance for the children.
Supplying the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter and clothing for the family.
Providing the children with quality education.
Ensuring the whole family is comfortable, in accordance with his earnings.
Protection and security. Father is the chief security officer of the family. He makes sure that all the members of the family are secured from internal and societal dangers.

Roles of the Mother in the Family

In the family, the mother performs the following roles:

Giving birth to children.
Cooking for the family.
Keeping the house and the surroundings clean.
Assisting the husband financially when necessary.
Seeing to the moral education of the children.
Ensuring peace in the family.
Ensuring proper hygiene within the family.
Supervising the children’s home work.

Roles of the Children in the Family

The children perform the following roles in the family:

Obeying the parents and other adults.
Assisting in performing household chores, particularly in the kitchen, garden and laundry.
Running errands for older members of the family.
Maintaining the good tradition of the family.
Keeping the family name alive.
Being good representatives of the family in the outside world by protecting the good name of the family.