The Features of the Leisure Culture in a Contemporary Ukrainian Family

Abstract

The article deals with the leisure culture of a contemporary Ukrainian family. Its features are analyzed in the modern socio-cultural space. Much attention is given to free and leisure time in the family. The article touches upon the issue of the forms and methods of the organization of a family leisure in contemporary Ukrainian society. It was proved that a well-organized cultural leisure serves for the preservation and strengthening of a family, reinforces the best traditions, plays a crucial role in bringing up the children, emotional and spiritual union of spouses. The family, by virtue of its nature, is not only the center of morality, national customs and traditions, spiritual and social experience of the people, but the motive power, which is able to provide a forming of an individual’s culture, spiritual revival and development of the nation. Culture and spirituality of the individual as well as of the society grows just from the family. The issue of leisure, leisure activities of the families in our country does not lose its urgency. Problems of family entertainment become the object of study of leisure time sociology, leisure culture study and pedagogy, and are identified in a number of basic scientific research by T. Alekseenko, S. Anisimova, N. Babenko, L. Boyko, K. Gaydukevich , V. Volovik, O. Vishnevsky, V. Postoviy, V. Pich, I. Petrova, O. Semashko, N. Tsymbalyuk and so on. The scope of leisure culture in Ukraine is under the influence of many social factors. The financial and economic situation in the country, the dynamics of social and cultural policies, the peculiarities of the scientific and technological progress, the phenomenon of migration have a great impact on the development of this scope. With the increase of a free time the leisure issue is becoming a crucial social problem. Cultural leisure in the family includes a set of activities through which mental, physical and psychic strength of each member of the family is restored. Today the durability of psychological ties of a married couple increasingly depends on the way the family spends their free time. According to the scientific research, we spend with our family 70- 80% of free time in our own apartments. With the weakening of the economic function in the family life, increases a function of a free time – a necessary condition for the harmonious development of every member of the family group, keeping up a favorable psychological climate in it, strengthening the marital relationships. Well-organized leisure time acts as a cultural preservation of the family as a complete unit, strengthens families, consolidates the best traditions, is of great importance in bringing up the children and the emotional union of spouses. Unfortunately, nowadays there are limited conditions for spending a free time efficiently. However, financial problems make impossible for many families realize their need to rest, heal the family at the resort or seaside, send their kids to summer camp or let them travel and so on. Characterizing the changes in the structure of the family free time, we can say that today takes place a peculiar popularization of leisure forms: on the one hand, increases the time for using the public-organizational leisure service. On the other hand, increases the free time at home. This fact can be explained by the situation that has arisen in the society in recent years, namely, more well-to-do part of society has a significant advantage in the possibility of using free time. However, such forms of entertainment that were traditionally conducted at home (singing, crafts, etc.) are forced out by TV, Internet, social networks. Proper orientation of a leisure culture is a necessary precondition for productive functioning of a family. Children in their future adult life will follow the example of parents who can fill in their leisure time with the benefit for themselves and their family people. In the family where the parents conduct an active cultural life, where the book and the periodicals are essential things in a mode of life, the cultural education is carried into practice at all times. Rational family leisure takes a special place in the development of moral and aesthetic culture. In the families, where parents pay attention to a joint rest with children, expanding their horizons, attraction in the household chores, one can examine a mutual understanding, there are no conflicts and it has created a harmonious climate. Keep in mind, that the strongest means of forming the spiritual wealth of children are very often not formal educational impact, but indirect: reading and telling fairy tales, books; discussions the lives of ordinary and famous people; literary evenings, home games, family holidays, walk in the wood, a joint going to the cinema, theater, exhibitions, museums, etc. Study of leisure culture in a contemporary Ukrainian family suggests its significant social and cultural potential and the possibility of its use. Conflicting trends prevailing in the cultural life of the society, require serious scientific analysis, aimed to study the features of using a cultural potential of family leisure purposely its rational conduct. In the conditions of crisis, the destruction of the established ideological stereotypes, social and cultural role of the family is growing. The urgency of scientific research dues to the strategic objectives facing applied cultural studies and pedagogy of leisure, namely, the preservation of the best family traditions, customs and ceremonies; strengthening family education, communication, emotional union and closeness of family members; improvement the structure, forms and methods of family leisure; revival and development of the national spiritual culture; substantiation and development of the new technologies in the organisation of cultural family leisure as a sphere of personality’s socialization, which promotes a cultural development of marital and family relations in Ukrainian society.