Parent | One Lifetime Blog

Slow down and enjoy the little moments that make life so wonderful, for life is too short to waste it rushing around blind to the beauty of this world. Stop putting your job and or career before your family, friends and your own life. Yes we all must work, but working is not the sole purpose or meaning to our existence. Having fun with friends and family as well as some alone time are all important parts to our short life that we live. We started working so we can pay the bills and to provide a decent lifestyle for ourselves and our family, but if that work consumes all of our time it leaves both ourselves and our families lacking in quality time together. It seems it is rare for a family to sit down and eat at the kitchen table anymore, daddy is at work, mommy is juggling being a mother and a working woman as the children run to their electronic escapes from the world.

The family unit is slowly dissolving or morphing into something with little closeness and that is very dysfunctional. Luckily there are still some families that function quite well, but they are becoming far and few between in this modern world. The family unit is where children learn their life skills and develop their emotional blueprints to their adult selves. For one of the most important things in life is the family unit and we need to start focusing on its development. Though it may be hard to balance time between work, family, friends and yourself but it is a crucial element in the development of children to have a good home life. It will take an effort from every person within the family to maintain a functional family, every one will have to sacrifice something in order to make time to be together. For those sacrifices they will gain family closeness and well as love and respect between the family members.

The Family unit is the foundation to ones entire life, for a strong foundation can create a sturdy infrastructure.

May Love, Faith, Hope and wisdom guide your every footstep.
Raymond Barbier

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The family unit is one of the most important part of society. Without a functional family unit t individuals would have no preparation for the harsh realities of life we all face. Some families are more functional than others and there are some that are quite dysfunctional. One of the shortcomings I see in modern-day families is that once the children approach the preteen and/or teen years the family group activities diminish if not cease to exist. Without family group activities the communications between the family members become less frequent as well as the trust that the family should have. The once close connection between parents and children break down as well as the connection between siblings. I had first hand experience with some of the problems mentioned above. I watched what once was a close family drift apart as I grew older.

I know that some of it is just a part of growing up, but it seems families are not as close as they once were and that the basic communication skills are lacking in the family unit. The family that eats, plays, prays and works together stays together. The family unit is a child‘s first social group along with its only true support structure. The child learns right from wrong, how to communicate with others and how to relate with the world outside through this or her family. Eventually the family unit will become second to the child’s social peers, and if there was not a strong bond amongst the family unit the social peers will be the social group that will influence the child the most.

The children and teens of today are the leaders, thinkers and the creative force of tomorrow. They are our greatest asset and the family unit is our greatest tool in molding and shaping their future as well as our own. Just something for all you out there to think about .

Peace and Wisdom be your Guiding light in life.
Raymond Barbier