▶ Your Answer :
Opinions might be divided over whether the extended family has become less important now. People from different walks of life may take different stances on this issue. Personally, I disagree with the given statement and there are two reasons that could validate my position.
First of all, the extended family helps people to improve relationships with others. In today's complex society, social skills are becoming more and more important. Diverse relationships in the extended family allows people to become sociable and develop skills of managing people. Let me take my experience as an example. When I was a young boy, I was very reserved and did not have many friends to play with. Then, my uncle, who is my father's younger brother, moved to my house and shared my room. He was very funny and witty. He especially liked to play basketball and often invited me to the court. We had a great time together passing the ball to each other and enjoying our victory. As a result, our relationship grew stronger and I became much more sociable and outgoing.
On top of that, the extended family helps today's people with useful advice and encouragement. As competition gets fiercer for places in prestigious schools or companies, people feel ever more pressured not to fall behind. Therefore, it is not uncommon these days to hear of people who are exhausted by heavy workloads and feel disappointed at poor performances. In this case, the extended family can encourage each other to overcome such difficulties. Let me take my experience as an example. After my first year of high school, I started losing my grip on math and my confidence to succeed in the subject. My friends tried to encourage me but their efforts did not help at all. Then, it was my uncle who lent me a helping hand. He moved to my house at that time. He told me how he had faced the same problem in high school and how he solved it successfully. I was moved by his kindness and gain courage from his advice. As a result, my grades greatly improved in the next semester. Without his encouragement and advice, I could not have overcome the difficulty successfully.
All in all, because of the reasons mentioned above, I firmly believe that the extended family is still important.
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