Family

Dictionary entries define family as 'a group of' people consisting of one or two parents and their children'. Living in a family is important for every human being. Our parents take care of us from our births until we grow up; we are often loved and even spoiled by our grandparents, uncles and aunts. We are related to our families by blood. We may live far from them, but we always try to keep in touch with them.

Our family supports us when we need it. They are with us in all the important moments of our lives. It is with our families and in our homes where we learn all the skills that we need for life: how to get on with people and be tolerant, selfdisciplined, polite and helpful. The people closest to us are our parents. Often they show how much they care by worrying about things like our health and how we do in school. We learn how to communicate and how to be helpful and understanding through our discussions with them.

Family members, especially from our extended family, get together on special occasions, e.g. at family celebrations, such as weddings, graduation ceremonies, birthdays and funerals. A family gathering is a unique social occasion and most people love going to such an event because we see our whole family and have the chance to talk to our cousins, aunts and uncles who we do not see very often.

As members of a family we have different relationships with the people we live with. The relationship with parents is special: we love them, but we have to respect and obey them as they are responsible for (use) our upbringing. Our siblings, our brothers and sisters, are much closer to us. They are from the same generation, share similar hobbies and probably (problems) have much the same opinions. Relationships with grandparents are similar to those with our parents, but there is one important difference: grandparents are not responsible for us. We do not live with them, so most of us see our grandparents only once or twice a month, and even then we usually spend only one or two days with them. Sometimes, we spend only a few hours with them.
Being a member of a family means duties, such as cleaning, doing the washing up, working in the garden and taking out the rubbish. Daughters usually help their mothers in the kitchen and boys usually help their fathers with household repairs. If the household chores are not divided up equally among the family members, relationships within that family may get worse and result in arguments.