Family Structure

Family is one of the most important pillars in Colombian identity. Familismo is one of the most important pieces of identity children learn as they grow. Familisimo is the loyalty, familiarity, and connectedness between the immediate and extended Colombian family. It is common for multiple generations of the family to live in the same house, with many children living at home until (or even after) marriage. Colombians value family, and this is shown in both how the family creates identity and socialization of the children.

It is a community effort to raise children, which in turn teaches children about the importance of community. Padrinos, or godparents, are often chosen for children born into Catholic families. And they often help raise the child and teach them how to function in Colombian society. Most parents are very attached to their children (especially mothers!) and will continue to both parent and protect them throughout their entire lives.

Speaking of Colombian mothers, from my personal observations, their love for their children is unfathomable. They will do anything for them and stop at nothing to make sure their needs are met. However, they will always make sure their children understand the need to respect and serve others. As I stated earlier, Colombians are a community-oriented people. They value their family and friends, even when that means they deny themselves.

Within Colombia, many children are unplanned. About 23% of women get married before the age of 18 and 1/5 of women between the ages of 15 and 19 are pregnant or have had a child. Most get married before the baby is born due to negative stigma surrounding having children out of wedlock.

Colombian parents are an example to their children of marianismo and machismo. The Colombian culture can be very gendered, and these two terms explain it well. Marianismo is the idea that women should be like Saint Mary: kind, moral, respectable, and resilient. Machismo teaches that men should be strong, leaders, and protective. Although the men are the head of the house, the mother is the one who makes the home. By the parents’ example and strict teaching, Colombian children learn what it means to be good members of society and what helps form their identity.

In the last 30 years, there has been an especially large migration within Colombia from more rural areas to the larger cities, causing a change to how families raise their children. Because of the greater number of factors that feel out of the parents control, there is an increasing trend for a more open style of parenting. Many of the traditional values are still vigorously upheld, but the way parenting is approached has become more open-handed.

All in all, Colombians are a very community, and specifically family, oriented people. And the way they raise their children reflects this worldview in its entirety.