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Extended Family

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Submitted By dezaryah
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My Extended Families

Desiree Feliuai

National University

I am from a very small core family, which consists of only my parents and me. My parents can’t conceive so they adopted me. I have a massive extended family. I am from a Samoan society. Wikipedia defines a Samoan extended family as,
“The ʻaiga is the family unit of Samoan society and differs from the Western sense in that it consists of more than just a mother, father and children. The Samoan family, also referred to as an 'extended family' is based on the culture's communal socio-political organization” ("Relativity", n.d.).
A Samoan society is more based on joint family. You don’t really see an immediate family if you are from Samoa. Everybody practically lives under the same roof and eats in the same kitchen. We don’t have nursing homes in Samoa. Older people will spend their last days at home with their families. We believe that since our parents gave us life and helped us flourish into the people we are not today, we owe it to them by taking good care of them. Being close to my extended family gives me a support network to fall back on. If someone doesn’t make enough money, the other family members will help them. According to Schaie and Willis (2002), “In addition to money and valuable property, the extended family often provides valuable services, such as help with moving and, of course, babysitting” (p. 156). We are farmers, so whatever we grow in our land we shared to our family members. We work to not only support our immediate family but our whole extended family.
My father came from a family of six where each of his siblings got married and had multiple kids. My mother came from a family of 12, and only 10 of them had kids. I have a very supportive and connected extended family. My extended families get together all the time. We have parties for

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