We all belong to a family!!
The creator designed it that way so we can build trust, loyalty and the bond of love. A wise old man once said, “he who has family has everything, because family is wealth”.
I was speaking to a ten (10) year old at the hair saloon and I asked her what her understanding of family was and she said it is a clan or tribe where we all learn togetherness, we might not always be in good terms but we can find love, comfort and peace when we have each other, I thought that was a beautiful and brilliant understanding of what the concept of family is.
We live in very strange times and the concept of family is changing daily. Our precious children are confused because they feel family cannot be trusted, it feels like a cage they need to quickly escape from and in their own way they are right.
Everything rises and falls on family. “The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.” – Mario Puzo
Can our children count on our loyalty?
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We owe it to our children to educate and thoroughly show them what family ought to be. Children should feel secure and protected by their family, this does not mean that we can allow them get away with murder. However, we should be able to call them to order when they go astray. Families should uphold certain values and standards that the children should emulate.
One of the core values a family should ride on is respect and this can be integrated into the society.
I often hear children say family does not necessarily have to be relatives who share their home, they strongly believe that their beloved circle of friends are family. If we say a family’s main function is to share love and commitment, they feel more loved by the family’s they have created on their own and they are right if we have not shown them what family truly is, they can create theirs outside the bloodline.
Family for me represents the foundation of self, and a unity of acceptance, unconditional sacrifices, joy, support and love that is built on a continuum of resilience, and journey in humility from the past, current and future generations.” – Sandy Baba, Ph.D., Education Researcher
