Referring to my previous paragraph, if we still lived in Vietnam, our family would be considered a traditional family. We are a non-traditional family as our family contrasts with the traditional family image stated by Coontz: Each individual in my family shares responsibility for my parents' roles, and my parents don't really have their own specific role responsibility. Coontz implies that the reasons why most families become nontraditional families are primarily due to declining wages. In the article he states that “the average income of men between the ages of 25 and 34 has decreased by 26%” (Coontz 4). It is very reasonable to say that this is the main reason why our family has moved away from the traditional image; since the wage has decreased but the prices of basic necessities are assumed to remain the same (if not increased), then another person, or everyone, within that family would also have to work to support the family. Two years into living in the United States, my father was laid off with little to no benefits; my mother had to start working full time. After my father managed to find a job, the pay was half of what he had previously received. But since my mother also worked, our family didn't have much trouble