There has been a lot of talk lately about which family can be considered complete and which is not. Some argue that only one in which there is at least three generations can be considered a complete family. Others argue that a family with only one child cannot be considered complete. In fact, the concepts of "complete" or "incomplete" family have very clear definitions.
Official status
A family in which both parents or persons replacing them live together and are engaged in raising children is officially recognized as a complete family. This means that the following types of families can be safely called a complete family:
- families where the biological parents of children are officially married, live together and are jointly involved in raising children;
- families where the parents of the children are officially married, but practice "alternative" forms of family relations, such as guest marriage, open marriage, etc.;
- families in which the parents are not in an officially registered relationship, but live together and are engaged in raising common children together;
- families in which the spouse is not the biological father of one or more children, but lives with their mother and is involved in their upbringing.
- families with adopted or foster children, in which both spouses have the status of a legal representative.
An incomplete family is a family consisting of a mother and her child (children). Moreover, if the father is officially absent (there is a dash in the child's birth certificate), the woman is recognized as a single mother. If the father officially recognized his child (there is a certificate of paternity), but does not live with his mother, the woman does not have the status of a single mother, but brings up the child in an incomplete family.
Psychological differences
Despite the fact that single-parent families have now become completely commonplace, psychologists do not consider such a family a full-fledged family.
For the normal harmonious development of the personality, the child needs both mother and father to be involved in his upbringing. Moreover, contrary to popular belief, this is important not only for boys, but also for girls. Seeing how the mother and father build relationships, how they interact with each other in different life situations, the child receives a matrix of relationships between men and women, spouses, parents and children.
Receiving warmth and attention from the father and mother, the child perceives the fullness of parental love. It is known that a mother loves her child unconditionally, simply because it was born, and the love of a father is evaluative and demanding. He is ready to rejoice at the success of the child, to be proud of them, but with his requirements, advice, instructions, he stimulates the further growth of the personality of his child.
If only the mother is involved in upbringing, she involuntarily has to take on both male and female family functions, including in relation to the child, and this distorts his emerging idea of the social roles of mother and father, mistress of the house and breadwinner.
Of course, if conditions in a complete family were unacceptable, if psychological pressure was exerted on the mother and child, if they were subjected to physical violence, such a family microclimate can be called destructive for the child's psyche. And, of course, in this case it is better for him to be brought up in an incomplete family.
But it is important for a woman to understand that for the successful upbringing of a child, the correct formation of his psyche and social ideas, she will have to make much more effort than in a complete harmonious and prosperous family.
