🌸 Family and Community
1. What is a Family?
A family is the first and most important unit of society.
We all grow up in families where we learn values, habits, and duties.
Families can be of two main types:
Joint Family → Many members live together (grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, parents, children).
Nuclear Family → Only parents and their children (sometimes single parent and children).
👉 In Indian languages, there are many words for family relations (like bua, chacha, mausi, etc.), which show the deep bond among relatives.
2. Roles and Responsibilities in a Family
Family members live with love, care, and cooperation.
Everyone has duties (dharma):
Parents → Take care of children and teach values.
Children → Help parents, learn responsibilities, respect elders.
Grandparents → Teach traditions, tell stories, give wisdom.
Families also teach values like ahimsa (non-violence), dāna (giving), sevā (service), tyāga (sacrifice).
📖 Example:
Shalini’s story (Kerala) → Her parents bought clothes for all family members during Onam, even though Shalini had to sacrifice her silk dress. Lesson: Families share and support each other.
Tenzing’s story (Meghalaya) → His father helps in household chores, grandparents guide and support. Lesson: Cooperation and shared duties make family life strong.
3. What is a Community?
A community is a group of families and people living together and helping each other.
Communities celebrate festivals, help in farming, and follow common rules for sharing resources (like water, grazing land, forests).
Everyone in a community has duties so that the group works smoothly.
📖 Examples of Communities Helping:
Bhil community (Madhya Pradesh) → Worked together in halma tradition, planted trees, saved water.
Chennai Floods (2015) → People cooked and distributed food to flood victims.
Kamal Parmar (Ahmedabad) → Started teaching poor children after work and gave them food.
4. Modern Communities
In cities, people also form Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) to manage cleanliness, waste, and safety.
Communities can also be based on:
Religion (Parsi community, Sikh community)
Work (scientific community, farming community)
School (sports community, drama club, NSS, NCC).
All communities are interdependent (they need each other to function).
5. Key Points to Remember
Family = foundation of society, teaches love, duty, and values.
Community = bigger group of families, supports each other in need.
Both family and community are based on sharing, cooperation, and responsibility.
📘 Intext Questions & Answers
Page 138 – LET’S EXPLORE
Q1. What types of families do you see in your neighbourhood? List the type with the number of households for each type.
Ans. In my neighbourhood, I see both joint and nuclear families. For example:
Joint families – 5 households
Nuclear families – 12 households
Most families are nuclear because people move to cities for jobs and education.
Q2. Make a list of all the members of your family you can think of, including a few distant relatives. List their terms in your mother tongue or regional language and try to find the equivalent in English.
Ans. Example (for Hindi):
चाचा (Chacha) – Father’s younger brother → Uncle
बुआ (Bua) – Father’s sister → Aunt
नाना (Nana) – Mother’s father → Grandfather
मासी (Mausi) – Mother’s sister → Aunt
This shows that Indian languages have special words for different relatives, while English uses fewer words.
Q3. Who in your family decides what is to be bought from the market?
Ans. Usually, my parents decide what to buy from the market.
Q4. Who cooks food in your home?
Ans. My mother usually cooks food, but sometimes my father also helps.
Q5. Who is the oldest person in your family?
Ans. My grandfather is the oldest person in my family.
Q6. Who cleans the floor in your home?
Ans. In my home, my mother and sometimes we children help clean the floor.
Q7. Who washes utensils in your house?
Ans. My mother washes utensils, but we also have a helper at times.
Q8. Who helps you to do your homework?
Ans. My parents and sometimes my elder sister help me with my homework.
Q9. Draw a simple tree of this family of seven members.
Ans. (Students will draw this):
Q10. Why do you think Shalini’s parents bought clothes for everyone?
Ans. They bought clothes for everyone because Shalini’s uncle had lost his job and could not afford new clothes. The parents wanted to support the whole family and celebrate Onam happily together.
Q11. What would you have done if you were in Shalini’s place?
Ans. If I were in Shalini’s place, I would also be happy to wear a simple dress so that everyone in the family could enjoy the festival.
Page 142 – THINK ABOUT IT (Story of Tenzing)
Q12. Why does Tenzing’s father consult his wife for special expenses?
Ans. Because both husband and wife share responsibilities in the family and they make decisions together for the family’s future.
Q13. How do you feel about his participation in household chores?
Ans. I feel very happy and inspired. It shows that fathers also share household work, which makes family life easier and fair.
Q14. What roles do the grandparents fulfil?
Ans. Grandmother tells interesting stories and gives wisdom. Grandfather helps with homework, takes Tenzing to the bus stop, and also helps neighbours by doing social work.
Page 143 – LET’S EXPLORE
Q15. Create a story of a family somewhere in India, where we see some family values practised. Share it with your class.
Ans. Example: In a family in Rajasthan, when the father fell sick, the elder children took care of household chores and the mother managed the shop. They all supported each other, showing the values of responsibility, cooperation, and sacrifice.
Q16. In the stories of Shalini and Tenzing, we see examples of joint families. What do you think are the aspects of modern living that make some couples opt for a nuclear family? What could be some advantages as well as disadvantages of the two kinds of families?
Ans.
Reasons for nuclear families: jobs in cities, need for privacy, smaller living space.
Advantages of joint family: more support, sharing of responsibilities, learning traditions.
Disadvantages of joint family: less privacy, possible quarrels.
Advantages of nuclear family: more independence, privacy.
Disadvantages of nuclear family: less support during difficulties.
Page 144 – DON’T MISS OUT (Community Support)
Q17. Have you heard of any such examples where people come together to do something for the community without expecting anything in return?
Ans. Yes, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many people distributed food and masks to the poor without expecting money. Neighbours also helped each other by sharing medicines and groceries.
Page 146 – DISCUSS
Q18. What kind of attitude towards the community does Kamal Parmar’s story reveal?
Ans. It shows kindness, responsibility, and selfless service towards society.
Q19. What values get reflected in Kamal Parmar’s initiative?
Ans. The values of compassion, service, equality, and love for children.
Q20. Do you think society has been unfair to those underprivileged children?
Ans. Yes, because they do not get proper schools, food, or opportunities like other children.
Q21. What should society do to make sure that all children get access to education?
Ans. Society should provide free schools, scholarships, mid-day meals, and support from teachers and volunteers so that every child can study.
Page 147 – LET’S EXPLORE
Q22. Make a list of all people outside your family that are supporting you through their work in one way or another.
Ans. Teacher (teaches me), shopkeeper (gives us goods), doctor (takes care of health), farmer (grows food), milkman (supplies milk), sweepers (clean streets).
Q23. What types of communities are you part of?
Ans. I am part of my school community, sports community, cultural community, and my neighbourhood community.
Q24. Is there a club that you are a part of in school? How does it function?
Ans. Yes, I am part of the Science Club. We conduct experiments, science quizzes, and exhibitions together under the guidance of our teacher.
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