Reply to No nearby family

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "No nearby family"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've heard it said before that people from other countries cannot believe how decoupled families are here.  In many cultures, it's unheard of for people to live in different neighborhoods let along thousands of miles away in a different state.  Think about how many cultures have many generations sharing the same house.  Here in the US with many Asian families in particular, notice how many multi-generational families travel together.

There are so many benefits.  No one needs to go into a nursing home, babysitters aren't needed.  Younger generation learns traditions and history from the older.  Shared costs.

My grandparents watched me a lot when I was younger and I got to know them in a way I never would have if I only saw them a couple times per year.

Seriously people, family is everything.  What are we all doing?[/quote]

There are serious downsides to this as well.  Adult children can be stifled and bound by tradition, never allowed to pursue their own dreams and interests.  Never mind if it is your life's passion do cutting edge medical research at NIH, more important to stay with your family and be there for every college football game and barbeque.  Grown men who live at home until marriage  become infantalized mamas' boys who then turn into terrible husbands who expect their wives to take over the mothering role.  Women domineered and bossed around by controlling mothers-in-law who rule the roost and are not prepared to retire to the dowager house.  Entire societies calcified because tradition, rank, family status is so important.  No risk taking, no innovation, no class mobility, no marriage outside the tribe.  Family secrets are kept just that, so too bad if you are molested or abused or gay or whatever.  Family is very important to me, but it is not everything.     
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics