Definition Essay on Extended Family Life in the Caribbean

A family is any section of individuals who are intimately connected by blood as parents, uncles, cousins, and children. There are various forms of families that are present in today's society. The multiple types of the family are crucial in the upbringing of any children since they are part of it. The basic knowledge about the Caribbean is inclined by the interplay of elements connected to the historical experience of religion and slavery as well as current economic conditions, ethnicity, and environmental settings. Notably, Caribbean is currently composed of the Indian-Caribbean, the Caribbean of European descent, African Caribbean amongst others (Chamberlain, n.d.). The involvement and the significance of the extended family: aunties, uncles, grandparents amongst other family members play an essential role in both its social and economic function. Defining a family in most instances can be a complicated thing to do. Personally, I come from a very cultured family. I was born and raised in an extended family in an island based in the Caribbean known as Haiti. A majority of Caribbean families hails from a background of Africans, and they moved in that region as slaves (Smith, 2003). Consequently, they were forced to carry out various roles in the plantation farms while some of the healthy male slaves were also used to procreate top quality slaves which in return led to unplanned families.

Growing up from a Caribbean extended family may not only comprise of biological families, but it also involved other adults in the community. In the Caribbean community, the aspect of involvement played a critical role during the process of childbearing (Chamberlain, 2003). In that, a grandmother would take care of almost ten children when the parents are not available. Therefore, there was a cultural value that required all children to respect older adults. This is because families acquired a lot of support and aid from the extended family members either financially or during childbearing.

The understanding of family in the Caribbean setting tends to differ from other societies such as the Americans since our community was so much into traditions. In that, during my upbringing, we did not have all the luxuries and the basic needs, although the little that we had, the whole community took pride in it. The feeling of having a family was something that was fulfilling and the role of extended family was so valued in the Caribbean families. When the parents were engaged in other duties of developing the community, the extended family would step up to take care of the children and act the role of parents (Smith, 2003). Nonetheless, there are times when adult children stay away from their parents, and in most cases, the parents do not visit them regularly as a consequence, the extended family visits to spend time for extended periods.

Conclusion

To sum up, extended families play a critical role in the Caribbean families. The African-Caribbean family has exceptional mating and motherhood patterns such as households dominated by grandmother, absent fathers, child-shifting amongst others. As depicted in this work, the traditions of Caribbean extended families has been greatly influenced by life on the plantation. Thus, there were significant levels of diversity in the Caribbean families which gave an opportunity for the extended family to be recognized as the primary caretakers of the home in most cases. Therefore, the family structure of Caribbean is understood based on the context and roles of the extended family.

References

Chamberlain, M. (2003). Rethinking Caribbean families: extending the links. Community, Work & Family, 6(1), 63. Doi: 1080/1366880032000063905.

Chamberlain, M. (n.d.). Brothers and Sisters, Uncles and Aunts: A Lateral Perspective on Caribbean Families. The New Family? 129-142. doi:10.4135/9781446218150.n9.

Smith, R. T. (2003). The Caribbean family: Continuity and transformation. General History of the Caribbean, 506-536. Doi: 10.1007/978-1-349-73773-4_15.