Social and pedagogical challenges for the modern family: actualization of the problem

The article reveals the essence of the social and pedagogical problems of the modern family. The research states that the family is an important institution for the formation, development and upbringing of a child, the main carrier of social and cultural practices, promotes preservation of traditions and values, and develops work skills, moral principles, norms and rules of conduct. The study has characterized positive factors of raising a child in a family: ensuring the inclusion of a child in a specific social group, which includes different age, gender, professional subsystems; promoting the development of children’s primary ideas about life goals and values and assimilation of general cultural norms of behavior in the society; formation in the growing personality of the image of own “I”; laying the foundations of the child’s character and attitude to work, moral and cultural values, formation of a set of habits and behavior stereotypes, and initial preparation to perform in the future the role of a responsible parent. The research has identified and described the negative factors influencing the upbringing of children in the family. They include unfavorable psychological climate in the family; mutual alienation of the older and younger generation; weakening and disruption of family, parental and marital ties; reduction of the authority of parents and importance of family values, which significantly affects the well-being of a child in the family; lack of knowledge of parents about the psychological and pedagogical features of the development of children of different ages; lack of unified requirements for the upbringing of children in the family and undemanding attitude to children; violation of partnership relations with the school or unwillingness to establish them; use of ineffective forms and methods of education and inability or unwillingness to use new, progressive forms, methods and means of education, etc. The article defines functions of family upbringing: reproductive, primary socialization, emotional and psychological support, protective, economic, and educational. These functions are carried out within the family ecosystem, which, in turn, is characterized by the following criteria: resourcefulness; self-esteem; self-actualization; effective functionality; internal self-control and self-regulation; empathy; focus on a positive and effective response to adverse external challenges; emotional and psychological communication of all family members; career and professional sphere; combination or change of family roles; social protection of the family (provided by the interaction with the institutions of labor, education, health, culture, state); health-preserving technologies to ensure sanitary, hygienic and ecological well-being, and culture of interaction with nature. The research highlights the areas of partnership and cooperation between the family and school. They include awareness of the importance of close integration of the family and school to obtain a quality result of interaction; development of the scientific foundations of psychological and pedagogical interaction based on the principles and provisions of modern pedagogical science; development of the theory of effective management of the system of pedagogical interaction of the family and school, etc.