Fiona a is h £t Jo Tomlinson

Audio scripts 
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special and we've ju s t got engaged! My fiance has fo u r kids of his own and w e’ re going to get m arried 
in July. James is really excited about it; he's looking forw ard to having brothers and sisters in his new 
step-fam ily!
Sheila: 
We live as one big extended family. There are seven of us in our household. Besides my husband and 
me and o ur children, there's my aunt and two of my cousins. I stay at home and care fo r my m other 
because she's quite old and can't look a fte r herself. Obviously, we s u ffe r from a lack of space in the 
house, but we a ll get on w ell.
Track 22
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Firstly, I am going to ta lk about the role of the parent. Secondly, I'll discuss the role of the child, and lastly, 
w e’ll look at the fam ily unit as a whole.
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Parenting is a d iffic u lt job because no two children are ever the same.
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Fam ilies are im p orta nt because they form the basis fo r socialisation. A dditionally, they educate and protect 
the next generation.
U
The fam ily structure has varied greatly over tim e. That is, different tim es have had different views of w hat a 
tra d itio n a l fam ily s tru ctu re is.
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Many argue that less trad ition al structures are not as effective. However, there is little evidence to support this.
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Many people are having fa m ilies la te r in life. Consequently, the rise in the num ber of single people may only 
be tem porary.
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Fam ilies in othe r parts of the w orld d iffe r from the w estern norm . For instance, in some cultures having 
m u ltip le husbands o r wives is the norm .
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Although there are many argum ents fo r trying to keep the tra d itio n a l fa m ily s tru ctu re strong, I feel the key 
issue is the economic necessity of having a 'n o rm a l’ fam ily structure.