Raising Kids in Non-Nuclear Families (article)- Kairos and The Rhetorical Situation

The stereotypical family in the 1950’s comprised of a mother, father, two kids, and a dog. This image has significantly changed as the world becomes more approving of things like gay marriage and divorce. The author of this article focuses on three different structures of family and questions how each one impacts the upbringing of children in comparison to the traditional structure.

            The author may feel compelled to speak out about how different types of households affect children, academic wise for example, because he or she sees how the lack of grandparents in the household, or the lack of two parents raising a child, negatively impacts a kid. Other reasoning could be they were raised in the typical nuclear family in the fifties, and is eager to share how different family life was back then compared to today. Many things that were frowned upon years ago are becoming socially acceptable, like gay marriage.

The method the author chooses to address the audience is by going into detail about single parenthood, multigenerational households, and single sex parents by giving statistics and then giving their respective advantages and disadvantages. Throughout the article the author maintains a neutral tone, not leaning towards either side- the nuclear family in 1950 or the different types of familial households present today. This consistent tone is effective as it leaves the audience to think whether the changes in “social norm” are beneficial or if they are harming children and their development.

The author does not seem to be addressing any one group of people specifically, but perhaps it may hit harder to people who are raising children so they can compare their household to one of the types mentioned. The Kairos is interesting because this article was written during a time where some of these changes from the Nuclear Family have happened for quite some time, like single parenting, but other changes are still not totally accustomed to, like gay marriage. This allows for some debate whether all these different types of households are beneficial or not. 

-Priyal Patel