Q1.
Why is the family unit important?
Answer
Because it is the first and smallest group in which people look after one another — and almost everything a child first learns, they learn there. The chapter opens by calling the family “the fundamental and most ancient unit of any society”.
The chapter gives five reasons, and proves each one with something in the text.
| Why the family matters | What the chapter shows |
|---|---|
| 1. It is where people are cared for | Relationships rest on love, care, cooperation and interdependence. Parents are “responsible for raising their children to become happy individuals and responsible members of the society” |
| 2. Everyone has a role, so work gets shared | “Each member of the family has a role and responsibility towards other members.” As children grow up they take on more work at home; Tenzing’s father took over cleaning, the vegetable garden and cooking when his mother’s work grew busy |
| 3. It is a ‘school’ of values | Children learn ahimsa, dāna (giving), sevā (service) and tyāga (sacrifice) — and learn them by watching, not from a textbook |
| 4. It carries people through difficulty | Shalini’s uncle lost his job, so her parents bought Onam clothes for his family too. “This is how families support each other and share what they have” |
| 5. It passes on what a family has kept for generations | “In many homes, children also learn some of the traditions and practices their family has been following for generations” — and Tenzing’s grandmother’s stories carry “humour and wisdom” |
Why the family is called the ‘unit’ of society: a society is not built directly out of single persons. It is built out of small groups that already know how to share, take turns, forgive and give up something for someone else. Whatever a family practises daily — sharing food, taking turns, helping without being asked — is what its children will later practise in the neighbourhood, the school and the workplace. That is why the chapter’s opening line from Tiruvalluvar says, “Love and dharma are the flower and fruit of family life.”
Remember: families come in many shapes — large joint families, a couple with children, one parent with children, children brought up by grandparents or other relatives. The chapter says a nuclear family may be “sometimes one parent and children”. What makes a family important is the care that happens inside it, not its size or its shape.