500-1-8-Love & Friendship

8 ►Passage 3 – Family Relationships

Family plays a very important part in a person's life. Family gives us a sense of belonging and about who we are as a person. Our families provide us with comfort, support, and security. They help us to make sense of the world in which we live.

Sometimes families argue and don't get along. When this happens, each member should feel free to express their opinions and feel that their voice is as important as any other family member's. How a healthy family solves their differences is one of the most important elements of family life. Often, it teaches the younger members how they might deal with disagreements when they become adults.

Most of the time, our family life shapes us into the adults that we eventually become. For example, parents that physically hurt their children do so because they were also physically hurt as children. It's possible, but often difficult, to break the cycle if the experience of family life was not good. Many people who have suffered from family members when they were younger have gone on to have loving and rewarding families of their own.

Regardless of the relationship with your family members, it's hard not to appreciate the importance of family in how they have shaped our world. A loving and understanding family unit puts us on the right path in life. It also provides us with a solid example when it comes to bringing up our own family.