We live in an age where the family has become a dominant intellectual, moral and political football. Everyone seeks to define it and use its structures, or lack of them, to promote their individual social narratives. Politicians talk of an ‘ideal’ family; the original mother and father looking after the children. The church dabbles in the family through the issues of contraception and divorce, while economists seek to redefine the role of the mother by making decisions about when she should return to work. As the centre ground of the family is scrutinised, single parents stand on the peripheries: women and men who bring up their children on their own. Then there is the reconfigured family constituted through new relationships, bringing in the dynamics of step-parents and siblings. A bit further afield are gay parents, foster carers and adoptive families. Suddenly the family map begins to look more complicated and one realises that to conceptualise the family as simply one of a father and mother and their children in the same household fails to capture the rich tapestry which is out there.

It is this rich tapestry, this individuality which the Cutting Edge series has picked up on, carefully dissecting the challenges and developments facing families. Nick Hull’s film Family Feuds carefully unpicks the tensions at the heart of a family in sharp contrast to the father devotedly writing stories for his daughter as he confronts death in a the touching Stories for Eleanor. But these documentaries lead us on to larger questions about families, forcing us to re-approach this unsingular institution.

Every disease of the modern world is thought both to stem from the malfunctioning of the nuclear family and be cured by it, so we are told parents should have dinner with their children in order to promote greater cohesion and reduce violence. We are educated by an array of super-nannies and their variants on how to manage the behaviour of our children. Health promoters attack mothers’ shopping, for fear of children becoming obese and also criticise her for being over anxious, not letting the child play in the park for fear of being snatched. Advertisers compete for children’s attention by turning them into the primary consumer, forcing the family to buy. Baby experts fight each other over whether the baby should be picked up or ignored when it cries at night. And if all this is not enough, the family is also the battle ground for a variety of air fresheners, vacuum cleaners, sofas and washing-up liquids!

In the middle of this social assault, the family is struggling to survive

Most do not recognise themselves in the simplistic narrative of two parents and the children living in one house; there is profound guilt about not being ideal; parents are afraid of falling short and, through their choices, potentially damaging their children.