Features of Nepalese family

Families have common features. It is based on the pedestal of love, responsibilities and duty. It is the network of different types of relationships and it is also the inheritor of cultural and social values of the earlier generation. Some distinctive features of family are given below:

• Nepalese family is monoandrous. One female marries with a single husband. The rate of disconnect and polyandry is also not so developed in Nepal.
• In Nepalese family, the load of house is still on the female. She is everything for all the household works. The fathers are expected to involve in non- domestic works.
• The number of single parent family is quite less. Both parents are found in the family.
• Nepalese families take relationships from the sheer emotional view. The family members do not take family relations from the point of view of duty alone. The relationship is one of nearness and harmony.

The functions of a Family

1. Care of the babies: Babies are the most immature animals born. Many animals can help themselves within hours or weeks of birth. They can run or hide. Even helpless kittens can leave home at six weeks old. Human children are not socially mature till many years because the rules of society are so complicated. Family is the caretaker of children till they are self- dependent.
2. Socialization: Children are born self- centered. They actually believe themselves to be the center of everything that takes place around them and we should teach them every rules about how to behave is called socialization and it lasts for all our lives. In our society, the rules are so complicated that people are still considered children who have to be protected till they are eighteen years of age.
3. To regulate sexual activity: It is usually estimated that sexual relations between men and women take place inside some kind of marriage relationship or pairing and that they are regulated by some social rules. Families exist to control sexual behavior so that the new offspring are as healthy as possible.
4. To provide economic support for the other family members: This can take many others forms in all societies. In hunting societies, women forage for most of the food and men hunt to provide extra protein foods. In farming societies, all the family members work to help produce food.
5. To provide us with a sense of place and position in our society: When people meet for the first time, they often ask each other questions about who they are and where come from. In a town like Kathmandu, many people have known each other and their families for years. Often a stranger will turn out to know family members. This gives people a sense of place and belonging to each other.

The comparative characteristics of Nuclear and Joint family of Nepal