Family Relationships
What can being part of a family teach us?
So much of what we think and feel, we learn from our family. Even the things we love doing can be because of the family we grow up in. For example, if your family are mad supporters of a sporting team, chances are you will grow up supporting the same team as them and get enjoyment from watching the game.
Being part of a family teaches us all sorts of things:-
- Values - by watching how your family behaves and what is important to them, you learn about values. For example, if being kind and considerate towards others is an important value in your family then it will probably be important to you too
- How to be part of a group - when you are in a family you get to learn all sorts of things like how to share and cooperate and generally get along with other people
- Practical things - when families expect kids to help around the house, they learn all sorts of things that will help them later when they have their own house. For example, how to vacuum, wash dishes, look after pets and clean the car
- How to manage money - kids who get pocket money and are expected to pay (or help pay) for things they want will learn about saving money and how to make good decisions about spending money
- How to communicate - when we are tiny our family teaches us how to talk (if you are REALLY lucky you might live in a family that speaks more than one language). As time goes on we learn how to let people know what we want and how we are feeling
- How to be cared for and how to care for others - when we are babies, our family needs to do everything for us. Even when we get bigger our family still needs to help us with some things. But, as we grow up, we can do more for other people in the family. We learn how to look after ourselves and other people
- Family rules - These are the rules your family makes up and agrees to about when, how and with whom you do things. These rules help things to run smoothly in your family and keep people safe. They might be things like not taking your brother's bike without asking or not going to a friend's place without asking mum first. Learning to stick to your family rules can be good practice for when you start school or play a sport where there are usually lots of rules you need to stick to.
Can you think of any more things that you have learned from being a part of your family?