Thursday, November 17, 2011
Question One
To me a family is two or more people who live together, and at best have love and trust for each other. Some families don't have support and love for each other, but they may still appear to be a family by the basic definition. I don't believe that families have to have certain members or maternal and paternal roles such as a mother, father, or child to be considered a family. I also don't believe that they have to be in a heterosexual relationship to be a family. If someone told me that they lived with their grandmother and had no other siblings I would still consider the two of them to be a family. Family members give and take from each other in many different ways. At times they may provide emotional support, financial support, and at worst they hurt each other physically and mentally with words and violence. Even though my mother never hit us growing up, the siblings in our family did hit each other from time to time, and we would never do that now that we are grown up. No family is perfect, and some may seem to be stronger and more loving than others, but they all have their flaws in one way or another. All of the relationships in the chapter fit my definition of family except for devitalized marriage and conflict-habituated marriage because those are just like living together as roommates, or as two people who dislike one another living under the same roof. I wouldn't consider roommates who don't care for each other to be a family, and once a person feels apathy toward their relationship, they are no longer emotionally active in that relationship. So in those cases, the family part of the equation seems to be missing.
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Hi Catana,
ReplyDeleteI liked your definitions of what a family is. You covered a variety of situations and changes, so thank you for sharing that! When you brought up that families don’t “have to have certain members or maternal and paternal roles such as a mother, father, or child” it made me think of friends or groups that support shared interests. I know that a lot of people consider their friends an integral part of their lives and as their family, so I do think that the idea of family extends beyond the traditional view. To me, family provides emotional support and looks out for one another and that can go many ways. Like you mentioned, I think all families have their flaws and are different, but ultimately family is what the individual makes it out to be.