Role of Family and Parents - Nuclear vs. Extended Families

4. nuclear vs extended families

External/extended family = Extended family refers to the family members who extend beyond the immediate or nuclear family of parents and their children. External families need not be directly related by blood. It is not only constrained by parent child relationships. Extended family is contrasted with the nuclear family. It is a rich network for human relationships and great support for the raising of children and continuation of the lineage.

On the other hand, nuclear family was developed in the western world to distinguish the family group consisting of parents and their children
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nuclear_family

e.g. In Singapore, extended families are encouraged. Cousins and relatives. Policies e.g.
more people or youths however are showing the nuclear family role.
The government tries to encourage the families to live near each other using various housing policies
- Due to land constraints in Singapore, extended families are not encouraged.
- However, Singapore government promotes family bonding through granting subsidies, “CPF Housing Grant for Family Grant”, to those who live near their parents/married child
- Policies= The Multi-Tier Family Housing Scheme encourages co-residence by giving priority allocation for public housing to extended-family application
- The Joint Selection Scheme encourages close-proximity living of the generations by allowing parents and married children to have priority in selecting separate public flats in the same estate. Benefits of this scheme and the Multi-Tier Family Housing Scheme also include option to pay lesser amount of a commitment deposit and more attractive mortgage loan package.
- The CPF (Central Provident Fund) Housing Grant is available to married first-time applicants where they will be eligible for a $ 30 000 to $40 000 housing grant if they buy a resale flat room from the open market near to their parent’s house, defined as within the same town or within 2km.