The family is the fundamental social construct that ensures every individual’s growth and development. Over the past couple of decades, numerous social changes affected the way the family exists and transforms. The traditional structure of the family that once consisted of the father, the mother, their children, and other family members, has now become increasingly more uncommon. On the other hand, there are more and more instances of domestic partnerships, single mothers and divorced parents. Aside from the changes to its structure, the contemporary family is also affected by the emancipation of men and women. More and more women choose their careers over the traditional role of mother and housewife. Due to the consumerism prevalent in today’s society, many parents often face the challenge of reconciling parenthood with their careers. Most parents tend to shower their children with items such as mobile phones and computers in an attempt to compensate for their absence from the family life. Due to this, many children today tend to spend their free time in front of a TV screen or a computer monitor instead of spending it with their friends and family. In addition to this, many parents today tend to be too permissive, fulfilling nearly any wish and avoiding any restriction or punishment for fear of hurting the child’s feelings. This approach to parenthood only serves to harm the child, spoiling it further. Later in the text the focus shifts to everyday problems such as: unemployment, serious illness, addiction and other difficulties that all contribute to the growing number of dysfunctional families. In such families, frustration and anger lead to frequent fights and acts of violence. Parents start to act distant towards their children, as well as tend to be strict, abusive and negligent. This often results in divorce, the ultimate form of marital instability. One of the consequences of the increasing number of divorces is the sudden increase in singleparent families. On top of that, a growing number of women today are opting to raise children without a partner as well. Single parents are at a higher risk of poverty, they tend to feel lonely and isolated, and don’t have enough free time for themselves. Day to day reality is overflowing with challenges and crises and it is a family’s job to decide how to face them.