Communication and Family

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There are many things in my family that you do and don’t do, and it differs from my mother’s side to my father’s side. On my father’s side it is perfectly normal to cram forty five people into one house and talk loudly over each other. On my mother’s side we keep things small and our voices quieter, my dad calls my grandparent’s house “The library” but I his parent’s house could definitely be labeled “The zoo”. On both sides humor and sarcasm are a way of life however on my mother’s side jokes can be a bit more racy or inappropriate contrary to my father’s side where such jokes would not be tolerated.

The parenting skills of both sides of my family are completely different, my father’s family believes strongly in the old saying of “It takes a village to raise a child” when the family is together the kids are disciplined by everyone, all the aunts and uncles and even older cousins act as parents to the younger ones, we all raised each other. My mother’s side is much different, each child is watched carefully by their parents and unless asked to discipline you let the parents parent.

Both sides of my family have passed down the love of nature, you are expected to know how to start a fire , paddle down a river, hike tall mountains and pitch a tent. They have also passed down the love of music, everyone in my family sings or plays an instrument and uses it in their daily lives.

There are many things that my parents do in our family that their families didn’t do, such as theater. Most of the time my family spent together was at the theater. We also had an unspoken rule that you came home from whatever you were doing to eat dinner with the family, even if dinner only lasted ten minutes it was important that we ate together to catch up on our lives.

There are many things that happen in my family that could be labeled dysfunctional but we make it work. We are a unique family with our traditions and values and our many flaws and issues but I wouldn’t have it any other way.