The family is our earliest influence, it is a long and extended influence, and it affects our lives on a daily basis. Abraham Lincoln said that all he was or ever hoped to be, he owed to his angel mother. Every major theory of child development acknowledges the importance of the family. No society or culture can be fully understood without understanding the families which make up that society or culture.
Families can have many children or none at all.
Families include childless couples, single parents, blended families, and families with two-career parents, two working parents, one working or career parent and one homemaker parent, or unemployed parents. Families may be black, white, Hispanic, American Indian, Asian, Middle Eastern, or some combination. Families may be rich or poor or most often somewhere in between. In all of this variety, families may be functional and promote the happiness, growth, and development of the individual members, or they may be dysfunctional and impede the happiness, growth, and development of the individual members. Perhaps most families have both functional and dysfunctional aspects.