Family relationships

Whatever form they take, families are central to most of our lives. Here, we present language to talk about family relationships.

Family matters

Kath is the eldest of seven children. Hers is a close-knit family. Her parents have lots of siblings, too. Kath has eight uncles, nine aunts, and no less than 28 first cousins. She loved growing up in such a large extended family. Kath has six children of her own: two sets of twins, an adopted son and a baby girl who is ten years his junior.

Liz is an only child. Her parents got divorced when she was very young. They had joint custody of their daughter. At first, Liz lived with her father and his new spouse. Her stepmother brought in three children from three previous relationships. Liz had difficulty adjusting to her blended family, so she moved back in with her mother. They didn’t get on well, but today Liz is a single mum herself and knows how hard it is to raise a child with no help from a partner.

Eric and Mabel are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. Eric was brought up by foster parents. He didn’t meet his birth mother until he was 18. When Eric and Mabel got engaged, Eric told his wife-to-be that he was illegitimate and didn’t know who his father was. Fortunately, his future in-laws were not as narrow-minded as his blood relations, who had wanted nothing to do with him. Blood is not always thicker than water!