Traditionally, a family consisted of parents and children. Today, you don’t need blood relationships to make a family. According to expert Michael Canzian, family is what you make of it. Instead, they can be formed through a variety of people and animals. After all, the best family for you is the one that you choose.
If you’ve noticed little to no blood relatives at your holiday dinner table, you may have some questions. But, of course, the biggest thing that people wonder about is what makes a family. So here is more information about the players in today’s families.
Friends
Most people consider their closest friends to be part of their family. This is because friendships are crucial to your lives and create your social support systems. Those friends that you have are there to support you through tough times, and you are there for them when they need you. Unlike some blood relatives, they are the people who will drop everything to come to help you when you need it. Often, people prefer spending time with their friends than blood relatives because the people you choose to be around don’t judge and are less likely to force their morals and perspectives on you. Since your friends may even know you better than your relatives, you are likely to consider these people a crucial part of your family.
Blood Relatives
Even though many people have chosen to discount blood relatives from their families, many still consider these people crucial. In fact, there are a growing number of people living together as a family unit who are not married but related by blood some other way. Therefore, blood relatives still make up a big portion of the people in most families.
Pets
Some people wonder where they put their dogs, cats, and other pets in the family tree. That fact alone shows that your pets are crucial members of your family. Many people even consider themselves to be closer to their pets than any humans. If you’re one of the people who keep their pets closer than anyone else, you will be excited to know that today’s families often consist of animals as crucial players.
The nuclear family is a thing of the past. However, today more than ever, people are wondering who or what exactly makes up a family. These are the major players in modern families, which have shown a drastic change from the past.