Family is the single most important influence in a child's life. From their first moments of life, children depend on parents and family to protect them and provide for their needs.

In his novel The Wild Robot, Peter Brown argues that there are many different kinds of families. Families may have members who do not look like each other and may not even be of the same species, but that does not matter. In the novel, families take many different forms, but all have the same purpose in love, loyalty, and caring. These are the important things about Families.

Across the island, the reader discovers many different families. There are families of beavers, deer, birds, geese, bears, and so on. None of these families look like other families, but they are still families.

Brightbill asks questions about his mother and about how the two of them became a family. Roz struggles to help Brightbill understand but it’s difficult for Roz as she doesn’t understand herself where she came from.

Think about your own family. Where do you come from? Are you from South County? Are your parents? Where did your great-great grandparents come from?

There are many kinds of families in different ways too: nuclear families, extended families, joint families, blended families and families by choice. There are your school families, and maybe church families or other groups you belong to. There are friends that are family. Any and all of these people are important and shape who you are.

What constitutes a family varies across the globe depending on a variety of factors including subsistence practices and economic behaviors. Family defines obligations that group members have to one another, both economically and socially. Generally, family members live together, but that is not always the case.

Not only ARE families different around the world but things are DIFFERENT for families around the world. Here are some differing views of some key aspects of things...