Family is defined as the group of people who are related to each other and want to live together in the same house. The other definition says that the family is "a group of people connected by blood or marriage and sharing common ancestry." There are a lot of different types of families in Micronesia. The name of Micronesia means the accumulation of many small and numerous islands. There are four island groups called Micronesia in the Pacific Ocean. Among them there are Indonesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. Micronesia is composed of many small islands. What kinds of features distinguish the Micronesian Families from any other families? The main difference lies in the fact that Micronesian families haven't changed a lot within the years. They are still cultivating the same traditions and holding specific life style. All modern families are classified into many various kinds. They are divided according to the material status, education and size. Micronesian families are very similar to each other. The only factor, which distinguishes them, is the size of the family, the amount of members and the specific lifestyle. They are divided into three groups. The number of rooms in house and the cost of livings are dependant to the family's size.
As a small family we can consider the one consists of just a few members. There are a father, a mother and some kids. The small family is often composed of at most of five members. Their houses are quite small, but fit all the members. Usually, there are at least three rooms. Houses are consisted of two small bedrooms and a bigger living room. The first bedroom belongs to the parents, whereas the other one to the kids. The costs of living of a small family are much lower. Also their needs are rather smaller. Because of the fact that they feed basically on rice, they don't need a lot of things to exist. As the money spent on children is considered, they are also relatively lower. There aren't a lot of medias, so they don't spend the giant sums of money on various bills. Let's take a look on examples: they have very few clothes, so they don't need to use the washing machine very often. What is more, most of them don't possess the TV set, so the costs are automatically lower. It is estimated that the small family spend about hundred of dollars on their monthly needs. I think that their lifestyle is also easier. The partners aren't as busy as the European ones and they don't have so many duties. Often the smaller families are considered to be better. The smaller the family is, the less problems.
The next groups of families are the medium ones or in other words the average ones. The average number of members in such a family equals from six to even ten. Apart form the partners, there are usually six or eight children. Their houses are consisted of three bedrooms and a living room. The first bedroom belongs of course for the parents, the second one is male one, whereas the last one is for girls. There is also a living room and a kitchen in their houses. The atmosphere in such a family is very nice and every time soothing is going on. On the other hand, such a big family has also some problems. The costs of living are much higher and there is no money to spend on additional needs and pleasure. So often they spend much more than the smaller one family. The members of medium size family spend a lot of time together and they help each other to fulfill every duty. They depend on cooperation. The older children look after the younger one. If a mother was in charge of everything, she wouldn't fulfill any of them.
The last group of the families is the biggest one. In the large family, there are apart from parents and children, also the grandparents. These three generations live together under one roof and nobody complains about the fact. The number of members in such a family is between ten and twenty. Often there live also the sisters or bothers of the parents. The house is composed of four or more bedrooms, a living room with kitchen. The first o the bedrooms is reserved for grandparents, some of them for parents and their siblings, whereas the other bedrooms for children and unmarried siblings. Sometimes the children sleep also in the living room. Such a big family has also a lot of needs, which can't be fulfilled entirely. The costs of living are very high. Because of the fact that there are so many people, they don't really care about some things. The family's budget must be divided rationally, because there are too many expenses. The costs are estimated at a couple hundreds of dollars. All family members have to eat and wear something, but the bills also should be covered. On the other hand, there are a lot of hands to work. Everything is done quickly and everybody works. Children are used to help their parents and grandparents and it is completely normal. What is more, every one is responsible for the different task. They know that they have to cooperate to exist. Sometimes it is very difficult to provide such a big family, so a lot of work and patient is required.
As I already written, the Micronesian families can be divided according to many different factors such as size, status and the level of education. But the most characteristic of them is the one connected with the size. Three main categories are: small families, medium ones and large ones. What is more, the Micronesians are very modest and they don't need a lot of things. The most important in their families is the fact that they love and respect each other. They really take care of all the family's member and no one can't feel rejected. They strongly depend on the cooperation among the family's members.
