Today everyone has a chance to maintain links with the
extended family through the internet. It is a nourishing and often supportive
network. Today, however, the family, as the ‘shock absorber of society,
to which the bruised and battered individual returns
after doing battle with the world,’ in the words of Alvin Toffler in his
landmark work Future Shock, is going through a transitional phase. The breakdown
of the joint family has led to a loosening of extended family relationships.
The powerful mother-in-law of
the joint family is emerging as the subdued caretaker of
children, helping the educated daughter-in-law augment the double income of all
upwardly mobile young couples. The large, amorphous,
supportive joint family that supported a wide variety of
people and bestowed unconditional love for the crippled, the old and the
helpless, has been reduced to the nuclear family where everyone is in sharp
focus. Much like the modern corporation, there is no place to hide, no place
for passengers, and everyone has to pull their own weight.
It is our mission to restore to it its traditional role
as a place of rest and healing, albeit in a new paradigm. There should be one
person in the family who can cushion the blows of the outside world.
Someone who is not too busy to listen, give support, and
manage the daily tasks of living. This could even be a paid caregiver or cook.
Networking with parents, in-laws, neighbours, domestic help and
friends is the key for working mothers.
You have such an interesting blog. Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading your posts. All the best for your future blogging journey.
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