Write About Families

I have a big family. They are living in S.F. Some relatives live in other cities too. I'm not the first in my family to come to this city. Some relatives were here helping us to get settled.

Parents should spank their children when they are not listening to you. I don't think a husband should hit his wife at all. I think some of the laws in my country and the laws in this country on this subject are different.--Hung

In my country in the city, wives and husbands go to work in the daytime. The mothers-in-law take care of their baby, or they hire someone to take care of their baby. After work, women cook, clean, and take care of the baby. Most husbands don't help with chores. In the countryside, most women live with their mothers-in-law. In the city, a lot of women don't live with their mothers-in-law. They just visit their mothers-in-law on the weekend. In that way, they can get along well together.--May

I have a big family living in S.F. so I settled in the U.S. In my native country, women work outside the home. I think if women have small children, they shouldn't have a job. In my country, when women have small children, usually the grandmother takes care of them. Their husbands help with cleaning, cooking, and shopping. I think parents living with their children is a good idea because they will be happy and get help. They will have a long life.--XiPeng

My family has six people. Now I'm living in San Francisco with my parents. My two sisters and one brother are in a different country. I was lucky! I came to the U.S. with my parents in Sept., 1999. My aunts helped me get settled. In my family, the women do household chores and the men work outside. The women usually do arrangements for childcare. Some adult children live with older parents, and some do not. When I was a little child, my mom spanked me, and I even saw men hit women. --Lyman

I was born in Turkmenistan, in a typical family, but opinions about family between Russian and Turkmen people are different. You can't bring your boyfriend and say, "This will be my husband." Your parents must find a husband for you and it's not very important if he is much older than you. In a Turkmen family, the man should not take care of his children. It's the mother's part of the work. It means the child grows up without a lot of attention from his father's side. Most of the Turkmen men use drugs or something else and they don't care about the future, the future of their children. It's not a very big surprise that a lot of children are born with disabilities. The mother can give birth to 5 or 8 children and everybody lives in poverty. In one word in my opinion, you can't make any family in that country.--Elmira

In my country families are smaller than in America. As a rule they have only one child, very seldom two, because parents think about raising their child healthier and giving him higher education but it takes much more time and money. They know that the best treasure is the best education and good behavior for their child and they try not to be greedy, but they don't ever have money for that. They can't afford to have more than one child. Hitting and spanking in my country are like water under the bridge, because my country is a civilized one.--Tanya

In my native country, women work outside the home. They go to work in the daytime, and some of them even go to school at night or on the weekend. If women in my country work when they have small children, they will hire a babysitter, so the babysitter can take care of their children and do the housework. I think it's a good idea for older parents to live with their adult children because I think the adult children can look after their parents.--Kathy

In China most of the families are extended. The grandparents take care of the children. The young men go to work to earn the money. If the husband is hitting his wife, the wife calls the police and says that the husband broke the law. Maybe he will go to jail. I think that is the same as in America. For the Chinese living in the U.S., most of the families are nuclear. They live separately from their old parents. They send their children to school. The old people live in senior citizen housing. The young people work as hard as in my country, and the housing is more expensive than in my country.--Paul

The law in my country is different than in the U.S. For example, here in the U.S. you can smoke when you're 18 and when you are 21 you can drink alcohol. But in my country if you're underage you can drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes, especially when you go to a bar. They don't ask for your ID or how old you are. They just let you in to have some fun. Also, when you are in the mall or on the bus, you can smoke cigarettes. There are also parents who spank their children but here in the U.S. once you spank your children, no doubt about it you're going to jail. Right.--Gabriel.

My family has four people, two boys and my wife and I. My two boys are ten years old. They can't stay at home alone so my wife must take care of them after school and on vacations. I can't break the law in America. That would be a terrible thing. In my native country usually the mother-in-law helps to take care of the kids and the kids' parents work to pay all the bills. On the other hand, in my native country parents are always strict and spank the children. They think spanking can educate the child well.--Bond

I have a small family in my country, my mother, two sisters, two sons and one grandson. Unfortunately, all of them are there. When I planned to come to the USA my family got worried because I didn't have any friends here to help me, but I came anyway. Living with an American family is the best way to compare the cultures of both countries. Basically, American families are different from Brazilian families. Here old parents live alone and usually children live with their parents until they are eighteen. I don't agree with this behavior. In my opinion family members have to help each other when they need help, and feelings are more important than money.--Maria

I want to tell you about the laws about husbands hitting their wives. In my country most people say, "If you are hit by your husband, you are lucky because he loves you and that's why he's hitting you." But the law does not accept this suggestion. If you are hitting your wife you will be accused by your wife. I think it's the same as the law in this country.--Natsenet

I am from India and in my native country there are women with children who work outside the home. In India there are lots of extended families, so they live together. If the mother goes outside for work, then the grandmother takes care of her grandchildren. There are also a few childcare schools for people who don't have an extended family. They use that type of school. In my native coutnry there are different laws about husbands hitting their wives or parents spanking children. In India, a husband can hit his wife and the police can't take any action against him. If there are parents spanking their children, the children can't complain against their parents.--Kulvinder