Families are often defined in rather prosaic terms, with more than a hint of ideology. A family comprising parents and children in one nuclear household becomes the standard-bearer, and of course many families are organized in this way; but many are not. In defining families simply in terms of the physical location of parents and young children, we properly underscore the importance of parent–child relationships, but at the same time overlook other ways in which families evolve, including households headed by single parents, blended families, and adults who reside together without children (e.g., because their children are living independently or because they are childless). We neglect asking the all-important question of where the grandparents and adult siblings are living and how often they communicate and become active in supporting each other, including sharing in child care. Standard definitions of families as singular households are in part a simple description of how people live and organize some of their relationships, however inaccurate, and in part implicit prescriptions for how lives should be lived. In one insightful view, feminist scholar Dorothy Smith defines the Standard North American Family (SNAF) as an ideological code representing a legally married heterosexual couple sharing a household with children. As an ideology, it is pernicious: