It is diffi cult to describe a typical family nowadays. Depending on the country and the culture, families can range from a large extended group of relatives living together in one home to a single parent family with only one child. While large extended families were once common in North America and many western countries, nowadays, it is unusual for grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins to all live together in one home.
In Canada and United States, children are encouraged to be independent. Many young adults live by themselves or with roommates while going to university and most move out of the family home permanently when they have completed their education. They choose their own careers and their own spouses. Arranged marriages are not part of the western culture. Most young married couples choose to live apart from their parents and many even end up living in different cities.
Western society also emphasizes the independence of the elderly. When senior citizens become too old to live independently, they often move into special care facilities or nursing homes. People from other cultures may find this aspect of western society very strange because in their cultures they are used to caring for their elderly parents in their own homes.
Another major change in the structure of the family results from the increase in divorce and remarriage in our modern society. Nowadays, blended families are becoming more and more common. Many households now include stepparents, stepbrothers and sisters, and half-brothers and sisters. The number of single parent homes is also increasing rapidly.