Extended family (part 2) I believe that the extended family (grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles) are less important now than it was in the past. Families groups in the past are more important… Family as institution is no longer necessary nowadays. In fact, elder parents (and children also) are more a charge today, than a help. Families are smaller than before. Many people live alone. Grandparents lives alone also, and the estate (instead of the family) take care of them. I don’t know if that family model is worse than the previous one. But it is true that the family is an important support for people who fail in their lives. A secure refuge where they can go if everything goes wrong.