W: American families today are very different
from what they were about a hundred years ago.
The main difference is that families are now
much smaller. In the past, most families lived on
farms. They needed children to help them work.
Today, most families live in cities. Parents do
not expect their children to work for them. It is
also becoming very expensive to raise and educate
children. Many parents cannot afford to have a
large family. Others think that there are already
too many people in the world. If they have more
than two children, it will increase the population.
Also, the types of families are changing.
Statistics show that there are more single
parents than ever before. More and more
unmarried couples are having children, and a
growing number of couples are choosing to have
no children at all. Traditional families---a married
couple with children---live in less than 25 percent
of all US homes.
One reason for this trend is the greater
number of working women. In the past, women
depended on their husbands for money. Now,
many women have jobs. They don’t have to be
married to have money. Another reason is
divorce. This is when a husband and wife decide
not to be married anymore. Almost half of all
US marriages end in divorce. Many people
decide not to get married at all. They prefer to
be single and live without a husband or a wife.