The family I was born into is my natal family. Is there a collective term for my husband and children? “Married family” sounds like I’m talking about my inlaws. “Created family” sounds like I made them in a lab, but those are the only two terms I can come up with. Is there a word that conveys the meaning of “spouse and children”?
Hi, Lucretia! I’m Jess with a new username.
Aside from one or more of them possibly being your dependents, I doubt there is one. They’d be your immediate family just like your own parents and siblings. English has a large store of words but it does not have one for every concept possible to contemplate (take that, Sapir and Worf! ;)).
Sociologists have terms to distinguish that type of family. The family you grow up in is your family of orientation; the family you form as an adult is your family of procreation.
You have both “My husband and kids” and “My parents and siblings.”
Hi! Good to see you! Well, I was hoping for something that specified “spouse and kids”, but nuclear family does work.
“Family of procreation” is pretty much the sort of term I was after, though it might be a bit startling in conversation…“We’re doing a procreative family christmas this year!”
I guess we know what YOU will be doing under the tree on Christmas Eve.
I thought that nuclear family meant you, your parents, your siblings and your children. If not, when are you no longer part of your parents’ nuclear family. Do they no longer have a nuclear family once you have kids? Do you always remain part of their nuclear family if you never have kids? Not trying to be obtuse, just trying to unconfuse myself (it’s been attempted before!)
It’s when you move out. A nuclear family lives together, is economically dependent on each other, and reproduces within itself (being either the progeny or the progenitors).
For this purpose, I suppose “Household” would suffice: “We’re having a household Christmas” seems to imply what you are intending.
‘We’re going for a nuclear winter’ might be a good one to try…
It might, at that! If we can all manage to be in the same house for the holidays at some point, I’ll keep that one in mind.
I have nothing to add, other than “Welcome back!”
I’ll take it! Thanks, good to be back!
Family unit?
I dunno, kind of sounds like you are giving each other vacuum cleaners and weedwhackers for gifts.
I’ve always heard “family of origin” for the family in which you were born and “nuclear family” or “immediate family” for the one you create as an adult. Immediate family is sometimes used IME to mean a blend of both family groupings, which can make it confusing.