Family culture is a very interesting topic to me. I enjoyed reading and talking about it this week. To me it’s cool to look at the differences and characteristics of family in the United States and how it compares to other countries all around the world. Along with this, there are differences and families within each country and within each family itself.
My sister was dating a guy from Kenya a couple years ago. It actually was pretty cool to hear about how different his family was from ours and the average family in the United States. When my grandpa found out, he had a talk with my sister and asked her if she knew what family culture was like in Kenya and for him. My grandpa had a super good point that I hadn’t thought of before, which now always goes through my head. He said, “Marriage is hard enough when you and your spouse are from the same country and have the same family culture. Imagine trying to combine 2 completely different cultures. And to add to that trial, how are you going to raise your kids? What culture are they going to follow more? Then you have to think about how often you’re going to see your in-laws and if you’ll even be close with them especially if they’re living halfway around the world.” In our family, I have 2 cousins adopted from Ethiopia. They were adopted when they were 4 months old and 2 years old. Because of this, they basically grew up with American culture but it’s interesting because there are still some glimpses that I see in them where I see a completely different culture. It’s also kind of put some different thoughts and stresses in their lives now that they’re older to think about being adopted and leaving their home country and families. They’re teenagers now and they love the life they have but they often find themselves thinking back to how different their lives could be.
I also think there is a big difference between the culture of families in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and those not of our faith. This is because family is the most important unit in the church. I think family is super important in the church especially because we have the ‘Family: A Proclamation to the World.” I love this because the family unit is trying to be destroyed by the world. This proclamation has been a blessing and has reminded members of the church what the importance of the family is which is why there is a difference between the family culture in the church along with those families outside the church. In my opinion, for the most part, family culture and families in general are way stronger than those not in the church. I loved in my readings this week the quote by President Packer that says, “We know that activity in the Church centers in the family. Wherever members are in the world, they should establish a family where children are welcome and treasured as ‘an heritage of the Lord.’ A worthy Latter-day Saint family is a standard to the world.” I loved this quote because it tells us that the Latter-day Saint family is the standard for the world’s different family cultures.
I think all cultures have their pros and cons but for the most part each is valid. I wouldn’t say they’re equally valid though. I think they all have the same purpose for the most part but not the same effectiveness. I think choosing the aspects of one’s culture to keep and to perpetuate into coming generations is on parents and how they raise their kids. Every generation is different and each generation changes the culture somehow, especially family cultures.
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