diff --git a/src/sage/sets/family.pxd b/src/sage/sets/family.pxd
index 43f4fc9fd1e..f5d8f755ecc 100644
--- a/src/sage/sets/family.pxd
+++ b/src/sage/sets/family.pxd
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from sage.structure.parent cimport Parent
 
 cdef class AbstractFamily(Parent):
     cdef public __custom_name
+    cdef dict __dict__  # enables Python attributes as needed for EnumeratedSets()
 
 
 cdef class FiniteFamily(AbstractFamily):