What is family for you?

Let’s talk about family

The family is the basic building block of societies across the globe. The different types of family exist. There are nuclear families, extended families, one-parent families and families with adopted children.

Nuclear families are those which have a mother, a father and their children (biological or adopted). An ‘Extended family’ includes a larger network of relatives – grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. One-parent families are those where one of the parents is no longer part of the family unit, possibly due to death or divorce, leaving the remaining parent with the unenviable task of bringing up the children and trying to earn a living at the same time.

Families serve many functions. They provide a setting in which children can be born and reared. Families help educate their members. Parents teach their children values – what they think is important. They teach their children daily skills, such as how to ride a bicycle. They also teach them common practices and customs, such as respect for elders and celebrating holidays. The most important job for a family is to give emotional support and security.

Successful parents give their children plenty of love and patience, avoid quarrels and keep their feelings under control, always find time to spend with their children, hear them out and discuss their problems, never forget to praise their children when they deserve it. On the other hand it is not advisable for adults to make children feel low or ignored, to give promises and not to keep them, to loose their temper and shout at their kids, to punish their children severely.

Good children are prepared to compromise and meet their parents halfway, render any possible help to their parents, treat their parents in the way they would like to be treated themselves.

Strong, happy families spend time together. After dinner, for example, happy families may take walks together or play games. Strong families also talk about their problems and work together to solve them. Members of strong families show each other affection and appreciation. Members of strong families are also committed to one another.

Families give us a sense of belonging and a sense of tradition. Families give us strength and purpose. Our families show us who we are. The things we need most deeply in our lives – love, communication, respect and good relationships – have their beginnings in the family.

What is family for you?

Family is very important for me, because it gives me a sense of stability and tradition, a feeling of having support and understanding. I feel secure when there’s a family behind me. They are people I can trust and rely on, people who won’t let me down and who share my joys and sorrows. My parents are frank and honest with me, they treat me with respect without moralizing or bossing, and I in my turn learn how to treat other people and how to form relationship with my peers.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16