My family

We are four of us in our family: my father, my mother, my sister and me.
My father´s name is Igor. He is not very tall, not very slim, his hair is a bit grey adn his eyes are green and blue. He was born 45 years ago in a village in south Slovakia, Svodov near Želiezovce. He lived there for six years with his parents and then he moved to PN. He attended the secondary electro-technical school here and passed his finals. He´s a private businessman now. He greatly enjoys his work. He is always short of time and that´s why he spends very little time with us. But when he´s free we often take trips to nature. He wants to be fit as a fiddle and so he exercises regularly, he goes to a fitness centre every weekend to work out. In winter we all travel to the mountains to ski. When he has some free time, he likes working in the garden. He can spend hours planting, watering and taking care of the vegetables and trees. Apart from these hobbies he enjoys reading detective stories, listening to music and fishing.

My mum´s name is Anna. Her maiden name was Kutinová. She is pretty and as tall as my father. Her hair is auburn and she has got brown eyes. She has lived in PN since her childhood. She met my father when she was 20 and two years later she married him. She works as a clerk and deals with licences for business people. She is fond of sports, she takes aerobic classes in the nearby sports centre twice a week. She is also keen on reading, especially romantic stories. She helps my dad in the garden, she likes sunbathing and she is an excellent cook too.
My younger sister Dominika is 15 years old. She h
as been studying at elementary school in PN for nine years. She likes doing sports and being with her friends. She doesn´t like cleaning her children´s room, which is often messy.

My name is Ivana. I´m just finishing the grammar school in PN and after passing my finals, I´d like to study psychology or translation at university. I greatly enjoy going to the cinema with my friends when there is something interesting on. I like animals, mainly our dog Dantes and I walk him every day.
My grandparents on my father´s side and my mother´s side live in PN. I like to be with them and talk about many things I´m interested in.

Arguments in family

Real arguments – where both sides feel absolutely passionate about an issue – are an ordinary, healthy part of family life. Ordinary because any family which says they don´t argue is either fictional, lying or harbouring years of pent-up frustration. And healthy because, psychologically, repressing strong emotions and opinions is not good for you. Discussing problems when they arise might dissolve into an argument, but it might not – so why not take a gamble?

There is an art to getting what you want and it does not involve slamming the door, bribery or violence. First, state your case calmly and clearly, and justify why you deserve your desired objective. Then, listen to the other side of the argument, without interrupting. Finally, try to reach a conclusion that each side is happy with – this might involve some compromising on your part, but you´ll earn some respect for being reasonable and this will help next time you want something.

Pride

Parents like to feel proud of their children and are surprised by the amount of knowledge their children have. Children know terms from the fields of science and technology, can speak foreign languages and are better at using computers and the Internet. They know all kinds of things that their parents at their age had no idea even existed. Today´s children not only manage to do well at school but take part in various out-of-school activities. They go to hobby clubs, attend language schools, do sport and prove their talent and abilities in competitions. Parents try to provide good conditions for their children to be wiser and more successful.