The birth of children, especially boys, is cause for great celebration among the Coastal Arabs. Boys are shown much affection and are pampered by their mothers, while girls, though shown affection, are not pampered. The father is a stern disciplinarian to both his sons and daughters. At a very early age, boys are taken to the fields with their fathers and older brothers to help with the farming. The young boys are also taught to obey and respect older males.
Girls stay at home to help their mothers cook and care for the younger children.
Among the Coastal Arabs, marriages take place as a way to continue a family lineage or as a means of meeting a family's needs. Since marriage is viewed as the union of two families rather than the union of two people, couples work hard to make their marriages successful. As a result, divorce is very rare. The Coastal Arabs tend to marry other Coastal Arabs and possibly Somalian Arabs, because they are proud of their heritage and desire to remain a closed group. The Coastal Arabs are virtually all Muslim .