One of the primary functions of the family involves providing a framework for the production and reproduction of persons biologically and socially. This can occur through the sharing of material substances (such as food); the giving and receiving of care and nurture (nurture kinship); jural rights and obligations; and moral and sentimental ties.[2][3] Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over time. From the perspective of children, the family is a "family of orientation": the family serves to locate children socially and plays a major role in their enculturation and socialization.[4] From the point of view of the parent(s), the family is a "family of procreation", the goal of which is to produce and enculturate and socialize children.[5][6] However, producing children is not the only function of the family; in societies with a sexual division of labor, marriage, and the resulting relationship between two people, it is necessary for the formation of an economically productive household.[7][8][9]

Christopher Harris notes that the western conception of family is ambiguous and confused with the household, as revealed in the different contexts in which the word is used.[10] Olivia Harris states this confusion is not accidental, but indicative of the familial ideology of capitalist, western countries that pass social legislation that insists members of a nuclear family should live together, and that those not so related should not live together; despite the ideological and legal pressures, a large percentage of families do not conform to the ideal nuclear family type.[11]

Size
Further information: Fertility factor (demography)

Mennonite siblings, Montana 1937
The total fertility rate of women varies from country to country, from a high of 6.76 children born/woman in Niger to a low of 0.81 in Singapore (as of 2015).[12] Fertility is low in most Eastern European and Southern European countries; and high in most Sub-Saharan African countries.[12]

In some cultures, the mother's preference of family size influences that of the children through early adulthood.[13] A parent's number of children strongly correlates with the number of children that they will eventually have.[14]