Family

What is Family?

Family can be defined as any group of people closely related by blood or marriage, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins. And, a group of people or things that are related by common characteristics, features, or properties.

Related words for family include clan, tribe, group, people, house, household, folk, dynasty, ancestry, parentage, brood, pedigree, relationship, and kindred.

Throughout generations, families have evolved. As well, the definitions, descriptions, and understanding of family have changed. Below is a list of the different types of family units in our world today.

• The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure, consisting of two parents and children.
• A single-parent family is a family unit that consists of only one parent raising one or more children on his or her own.
• An extended family structure consists of two or more adults who may be related by either marriage or by blood, living in the same home together with other relatives.
• A childless family is a name given to describe couples who either cannot or choose not to have children.
• Blended family is a type that, as a result of death or divorce, choose to get remarried creating the step or blended family, which is created by two separate families merging into one
• A Grandparent family is the type of family where grandparents raise their grandchildren for a variety of reasons. One in fourteen children is raised by his grandparents

What is the deeper meaning of family? A family can also be considered as a group of people who both want to and choose to be together. They are joined together by a bond so powerful and strong that nothing can disrupt or break apart the unit. Being in a strong family unit means that you have someone to love you unconditionally. Family could mean loving and supporting each other, even at times when it may not so easy to do so.

To some, family might also convey that you’re trying to be the best person you can be so that you may inspire your loved ones. Another view of family may extend to good friends as well as your community. How many have used Aunt or Uncle to refer to the close friends of their parents? The notion of a family can be quite far-reaching.

Mindful Helpdesk considers a family to be a group or collection of individuals who may or may not share a common goal but who share their unconditional love and unending support for each other. They provide stability, inspiration, respect, rewarding challenges, and an everlasting education. A family and its core values help to build character and encourage members to be the best they can be in their individual lives. Subsequently, each individual’s character can further enhance the lives of their family, their friends, the spirit of their community, and everyone else they encounter along the paths of their life’s journey.

What does family mean to you?

Peace, Love & Family

Quotes

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.
~Jane Howard

There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained.
~Winston S. Churchill

In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, bridge to our future.
~Alex Haley

Family is the most important thing in the world.
~Princess Diana

A family doesn’t have to perfect; it just needs to be united.
~Unknown