[originaltext] A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father

A "typical" British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to he of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.
    Another change has been caused by the fact that people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people’s lives, there are many households which consist of only one person or one person and children.
    Member of a family—grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins—keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their hometown to work, and so the family becomes scattered.
    In general, each generation is keen to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social as well as geographical differences within the larger family group.