Week 2

During this week I was thinking a lot about the rules and roles that families have. The rules that each member of the family has. Either the mom or the dad is typically more in charge. For me it was my dad. My parents divorced when I was very young, so I have spent my whole life looking up to my dad. He was and still is the person/parent that I go to first for help, he is an example to me of what I want to become. His role as a dad though is to teach me and my siblings right and wrong, to teach us how to live. It's interesting though because everyone is taught differently. A few of the different things were simple like how to wash the dishes, or how the cleaning goes on in the house, and even some unspoken rules that each family has. I’ll explain more on that later.  

Each family has a different set of rules as well. For example, growing up after we ate dinner or any meal together, we had to clean up right away, before we did anything else. I have noticed that in different families as well. I served a 2-year mission for the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints. On my mission I was invited into a lot of people's homes to meet with them and occasionally they would feed me. With this I was able to learn and observe how other families do things, I didn’t notice these things in the moment, that was not purpose at that time. Although I was able to look back and realize those differences. It’s very fascinating that each family is different in their own special way.  

It’s also very interesting how each family has unspoken rules that everyone knows but are never talked about. In class we were able to hear a story from my teacher, he told us about his unspoken rule was that you couldn’t just ask for things that you wanted. He shared a story with us from when he was younger. He said, when he was around 8 years old, his sister and him would help this lady with her yard work. When they were done, she would pay them with homemade cookies. One time they went over and knocked on the door. They asked the lady what they could help with, and she said she didn’t have anything for them to do. He then asked if they could get cookies anyway, because that is what he was honestly was there for, the lady then told them that she didn’t have any and she shut the door. After that his sister smacked him in the head and told him that he can’t ask for things like that, it was rude. He’s had many other experiences that make this statement true. I liked this story. I was able to get a better understanding of what he meant when he said, “unspoken rules”.  

Growing up we are all taught differently. Once we are grown up, we naturally pick and choose what we want to teach our kids from the lessons and experiences that we had when we grew up. This is what makes families different and unique in their own way. I never thought twice about these things till I started taking the family relations class. This class has opened my mind to the possibilities of what I can do to help my family become the best they can be. I hope that this blog was able to help you understand the rules and roles that each family has. I would like you to think also about the unspoken rules that your family has as well, I find it very interesting to think about. Thank you for reading :)