Family and Culture

Hello, I hope you had a great week! This week we discussed cultural differences in relation to the family. There were a lot of eye-opening insights and things I hope will be meaningful to share. 

When we first hear the word "culture" most of us think of things such as art, literature, music, clothing, traditions, achievements etc. But I want to focus on the definition that describes it as attitudes and behavioral characteristics of a certain social group. I think this is quite interesting to be able to look at different areas or groups of people and see how culture affects the way they view family and the traditions of families. Family cultures look different across the world and from all different backgrounds. 

A point I would specifically like to talk about that stood out to me and that I found to be very interesting was that under stress, we will always revert to what is familiar. The base of the word familiar itself is FAMILY. I don't know why I had never recognized or realized that before, but it was quite an interesting point to me. Everything we know and everything we do revolves around family. The habits, traditions, and tendencies we have are ones that we often times have learned and picked up from our own families. I'm sure that in reading that, we could all think of things that we do when we feel stressed. Things that we could pinpoint back to what was familiar for us or what was practiced in our own families. I’m sure you could also think of cultural practices or traditions your family did that you liked and some that you didn’t particularly like. I think that cultural things can be as small as what your family does personally or as big as what you do in your own country. Wherever your traditions come from or your practices, we all have the choice of whether we will continue them in our own families or not.

I come from a blended family so combining two families and bringing in different cultures of family and different traditions was definitely an adjustment. Both my own parents and my stepparents were raising their children together now. It has been interesting to see the family dynamic and traditions change over the years to best suit our new norms. There are definitely traditions that I love and wish to continue with my future spouse and children, but I also look forward to creating our own family traditions.

Family culture gives a sense of belonging and helps you understand where you come from and who you are. Family history and talking with older family members and your parents are great ways to increase your knowledge of your own family culture and where you come from. It can help you gain a greater appreciation for the place you are in now. By learning about your ancestors and their experiences, you can also find commonalities and see connections with your own life. I think this can be such an incredible experience and you will learn so much by researching and finding out where you come from. It is such a unique experience from family to family and it just goes to show how diverse of backgrounds we all come from, but we can also see parallels too.

I know that when I have been able to learn about other people’s family cultures, traditions, and lifestyles, it helps me gain so much appreciation for the diversity we see in our world. We are all created in the image of God, but He also created us to be different individuals and have unique experiences. I hope we can all learn to see and appreciate the beauty of that.