The Household Community

A household is more than just a place to live; it is a community. Those who live in the household need to be willing to cooperate with one another and take other people’s needs into account. This is easier said than done, and maintaining a functioning household can take a whole lot of work. Unfortunately, most members of the household do not contribute equally. In a typical family, the responsibility for keeping the household going falls on the woman, despite all these years of feminist triumphs. Not only is it the woman who is still responsible for the majority of household chores, but the woman also maintains peace in the household.

This may not always be the case, but it is still true for the most part. Some fear that if women do not take the responsibility for the household, then it will fall apart. Considering that we are all taught our patterns by previous generations, change in these things can take a lot of time.

Regardless of who is responsible, the woman or the man, the household needs to keep functioning properly, and for this, there often needs to be somebody guiding it along. Sometimes, the household might come to represent a hotel more than a community. People come and go, grab a bite to eat when they’re passing through, and might say hello if they happen to run into someone. Or not. Avoiding this anonymity is the greatest challenge to preserving the community of a household today. In the end, the responsibility and the consequences fall equally upon all adult members of a household.