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When expanded families-children, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles-lived in the same town and
sometimes in the same house, a relative of the working parents took care of the children. But beginning
with the Industrial Revolution, people moved away from farms and small towns to find better job chances
in larger cities. Gradually nuclear families are often seen in the society, but there also appears the
immediate family, with either the mother or the father living with the children because of divorce. Another
variation is the mixed family, the result of a marriage between a previously married man and woman who
combine the children from their former marriages into a new family.
Since 1950s and 1960s, a trend that has appeared is the sharing of child-care responsibilities between husband and wife. More and more women are working outside the home. Around 70 percent of women
with children under 18 have other jobs besides that of mother and homemaker. Most are employed in
traditional fields for females, such as sales, education, and service. Some are engineers, politicians, doctors, lawyers, and scientists. And at the end of twentieth century, even a few have begun to occupy vital
positions in business, government, and banking, breaking through the so-called glass ceiling.
Money matters influence women to work. Some are employed full time, some part time, and some
seek creative solutions such as flex-time work schedules and job sharing. Many are single mothers, in
single-parent family, raising children by themselves. But in most cases, one income in the household is
simply not enough, so both parents must work to support the family. The men are no longer the only
breadwinners.
So who watches the children while the parents work? Answers to this question are varied. Some
parents put children in day-care centers. Some parents put children in informal day-care centers in private homes. Companies and hospitals are realizing that providing day care at the workplace makes for happier and more productive employees. Some wealthy families can have a nanny, a woman who comes to care
for the children in their own home. Many of these child-care workers are from other areas, e.g. South
America and Eastern Europe.
From the last decade, the accessibility of technology-computers, faxes, teleconferencing-has made it
easier for at-home workers to be constantly in touch. Will this new flexibility in the work force bring a
positive change for taking care of children? Only time will tell.
1. What is an immediate family according to the passage?
A. An expanded family.
B. A mixed family.
C. A nuclear family.
D. A single-parent family.
2. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?
A. Women can get to the top positions easily.
B. Educated women are employed in many fields.
C. Women have more and more chances to work outside.
D. More and more women have children at very young age.
3. Employers make their employees more productive by ______.
A. putting their children in private centers
B. offering office equipments to workers
C. providing day care at the workplace
D. allowing them to work at home
4. Which of the following could be the best title of the passage?
A. Who Takes Care of Children?
B. Why do Women Work Outside?
C. What Benefits Single Parents?
D. How do People Support Families?

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