Indian family life and values Indian family life and values Even though India is a country made up of numerous religions and communities of people, the basic values and systems of family life remain similar. Even today people don t believe in family planning and treat children as gifts from God. Sons are always more preferred than daughters because daughters are expensive to bring up. They don t earn money for the family and in addition, have to be given a lot of dowry when they get married.
Sons normally earn money for the family and support their parents during their old age.
Marriage of daughters traditionally is arranged with boys from the same community. Normally, the parents of the prospective spouses get together either through a common relative or through a matchmaker. The families discuss each other s backgrounds and work out the modalities of the bondage. Traditionally, the boy s family would negotiate with the girl s family for dowry. The higher the amount of dowry the better the proposal.