Family Is Everything!

Family is everything! It is one of the first gifts you received even before your birth. The warmth, love, care, and friendship one gets from a family are priceless. Traditionally, parents, grandparents, siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins and other relations make up the branches of this beautiful tree called family. However, membership of a family goes beyond having existing blood connections with one another. It can extend to persons outside blood relations, for example, spouses or persons accepted or adopted into a family circle. It is a group of people that looks after each other.

Regardless of how you chose to define a family, the fundamental or core attribute to note here is that there is a great sense of connectivity and shared interests among the people in such an entity. Here, let’s focus our definition of a family as an entity where one is accepted, loved, supported, and cared for without selfish interest in view. .There are many categories of families depending on who is grouping them, e.g. nuclear, extended, and others, but the emphasis here is on the term “family”. Again, irrespective of your geographical location, you can have a family anywhere. We all need people that we can rely on to share life’s joys and challenges with. They have to genuinely show us love and care, support, stand by us and are always there for us.

There are basic indisputable benefits that make family everything.

1. Family is our first valuable relationship

From the cradle to the grave, family is our first valuable and long-lasting relationship. It gives us our identity, extends its values and principles to us, which in turn mould us. Our parents, siblings, grandparents, and other relations form our first relationship ever. Isn’t it amazing how we find our self-worth and entitlements by just belonging to our family! Family forms the basis of our informal education.

We are taught how to relate with one another (relationships), how to care, and how to love people. The times we share with our loved ones create the platform for bonding and growth. Children thrive better when they enjoy care and love from their families. Just knowing that your family is there for you calms you down. Children often run to their parents to report issues or seek endorsement. It is because they don’t have doubts about their parents being there for them. Value your family, no matter what! Make every moment you spend with them to count as the clock continues to tick.

2. Family provides fundamental principles and values to children 

Most times, we learn vital lessons of life early in a family setting. The training that we get from family (home) becomes our default settings. For children to be social, intelligent, confident, and also caring, they have to be first taught early at home. In cases where children veer off to something else due to peer pressure, they are almost certain to return to their default training when they get sober. 

Early learning provided by a family makes the teacher’s work at school easier. Aside from providing for children’s needs, parents’ responsibilities also include coaching their children early in life. Here, a child learns lessons such as respect, honesty, empathy, and punctuality from his/her family. It is established that children learn from the pattern of behaviour modelled to them at home. This buttresses that family provides fundamental values to children. Therefore, families need to instil good values in their children, which will be beneficial to the entire society.

3. Family will always be there for you

Family is one’s ride or die! Life starts and ends with family. Family members are people that will always be there for you no matter what you go through per time. When everyone rejects you, your family will always welcome you with open arms. 

Sharing a blood connection means having a part of you in them even though some family relationships go beyond this. They are the people who would do anything to see you smile. I don’t believe anyone would wish anything bad to happen to his/her family member. One will always try everything possible to protect and be there for one’s family.

Currently, across the globe, the world is faced with a coronavirus pandemic which has claimed many lives. In many countries, social distancing and lockdown have been imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic. In this type of situation, family members that are living together will feel less bored than people who do not have their loved ones around. They support each other through this pandemic. Family members that live far apart also find a way of connecting through several online platforms. This shows that family will always be there for you.

When all hell is breaking loose, and you are not sure of the future, it is your family and relationships that strengthen you to move forward in life. Nothing can replace your loved ones being around you in a difficult season, especially in the current times that we live in.

4. Family means more than career and life pursuits

Nothing can replace family! Career and other life pursuits should not make you neglect your family. Pursuing your career and dreams are great, but this should not be done at the detriment of your family. Money can’t buy family, neither can it buy peace nor happiness.

Some people never really had time for their families due to several reasons. Such neglect can bring friction to their families, hence, resulting in problems that may be extremely difficult to solve. Note that, after your retirement, your colleagues (even your mentees) will likely not be there for you again, but family members will always remain no matter how you treat them (I hope!). Just be careful not to make wrong indelible impressions on the lives of the people that matter most. Now, one is faced with an important question – do you sacrifice your family for your career or life pursuits? I think the answer should be NO!

Again, the current ‘lockdown’ has also taught us a very vital lesson in life. Everything can fade away but not family. At this point, your job, career, and other engagements don’t matter. People, except essential service providers, have been asked to stay at home for some time. Ultimately, this is to protect the very entity that matters – family. We should not forget that families are the substrata of society. So, it’s time to sit back and connect with your family. It is not the time to create excuses, whip up sentiments, or even wake up existing grudges. It is a call to have a rethink and reach out to your family and other personal relationships.

5. Family helps with sound emotional health

One’s emotional health can significantly depend on one’s family. Most times, our emotional well-being is a by-product of how well our family is functioning. If your family is going through a tough time, your mind can be unsettled. A cheerful countenance and emotional balance are attributes of a healthy family. This is a fantastic benefit of a family that some of us don’t even realize.

When a part of a family relationship is broken due to divorce, children sometimes suffer depression and low self-esteem due to this separation. A child’s future is rooted in how well they can manage their emotions; hence, family can impact on this aspect of a child’s development in no small way. Teenagers and adults learn from their parents or legal guardians on how to handle challenging times in life. One navigates through life on the ticket of emotional balance that family provides.

6. Family provides succour in times of difficulties, e.g. loss

Although family may mean different things to different people depending on one’s culture, belief, and even the society that one lives in. When one goes through difficult times such as the loss of a loved one, heartbreaks, disappointments, miscarriages, divorce, and so on, family provides the succour needed to move forward in life. These are periods that one needs all the love and support they can get. Family helps you get back on your feet after a sad occurrence. I can’t agree less that when the chips are down, you are only left with your family. Value your family, it’s worth everything! Never… EVER forget that!