Family Life

The "average" family back then had a father, who was the breadwinner, a mother who was the homemaker, and the children, if any, who attended school or eventually had jobs. Sometimes there was a grandparent or two as well who contributed to the children's upbringing and household duties. Children usually lived with their parents until of an independent age, then moved out to start a life and maybe a family of their own.
In our case there were 6 children and no grandparents, and all the children attended the local Primary school.

The "rules" have changed since then. Formal marriage is often not used, the couple having a "de-facto" relationship, and these are now recognized by the Court as having the same standing as a formal marriage. There are more single parents, and some couples, who may or may not be formally married, can be two males or two females, who may also have children. Either or both can have full-time employment. If both are employed, unschooled children have several options. They may be taken to a "day care centre", a place where several trained adults care for a group of children. They may be taken to a "family day care" home, where usually one adult cares for a group of up to about 4 children. And they may stay at home, with a carer to look after them in the parents' absence.

Divorce or separation of couples has become more common, and custody of the children and separation of properties is determined either amicably by the parents or by the Court. However most community and family groups still maintain a strong commitment to the need for family unity and celebrate this in the traditional way with a wedding anniversary celebration.

Wedding anniversary gifts originated back in medieval times, and their selection has changed over the years. The modern convention, first published by the American National Retail Jewelers Association in 1937, attempts to increase the value of the gift with each year. It's usually (but not always) given to the "wife", and is a recognition of a successful marriage.
The convention suggests gift-types for each year up to year 20, then for each five years after that. These are the types of gifts considered significant for each anniversary:

1 Paper	6 Candy	11 Steel	16 Wax
2 Fibre	7 Copper	12 Silk	17 Furniture
3 Leather	8 Bronze	13 Lace	18 Porcelain
4 Flowers	9 Pottery	14 Ivory	19 Bronze
5 Wood	10 Aluminium	15 Crystal	20 China

25 Silver	30 Pearl	35 Coral	40 Ruby
45 Sapphire	50 Gold	55 Emerald	60 Diamond

Family relationships I'm sure everyone knows the basic family relationships: mother,father, son, daughter etc. but sometimes the more "remote" ones are hard to give a definition to. Here's a list of the most commonly-used terms and their meanings.

• Wife Female partner in a marriage. In same-sex marriage there may be two wives.
• Husband Male partner in a marriage. In same-sex marriage there may be two husbands.
• Widow Woman whos spouse has died.
• Widower Man whos wife has died.
• Parent Either mother or father of a person
• Child Offspring of a person/persons. May be any age, any gender.
• Siblings Brothers or sisters of each other.
• Sister Female sibling.
• Brother Male sibling.
• Auntie Sister of the mother or father.
• Uncle Brother of the mother or father.
• Niece Daughter of a sister or brother.
• Nephew Son of a sister or brother.
• Cousin Daughter or son of a parent's sibling.
• Maternal Related to the mother's lineage.
• Paternal Related to the father's lineage.
• Grand... Separated by an extra generation of the family, e.g. grandparent=a parent's parent; grandchild=child of the person's child.
• Step... A person who is not a "blood" relative, but related by a previous relationship.
• Second... Separated by one generation, e.g. second cousin=child of a cousin.
• Half... Related through one side of a family, e.g. a half-brother is a son of one of the parents of the other child.
• ...Removed Similar to second; once removed means one generation beyond.
• De facto Living as a married couple though not officially married
• Cis gender Identifying as the same gender as at birth.