As an African American woman who has a strong sense of kinship and
affiliation with my African American heritage, family is another important value in my life. I look forward to coming home each day, to finding out
how everyone's day has been. Trying to strike a balance between work and
family can be taxing and sometimes chaotic. One of the family rituals that
I relished as a child was dinnertime. My parents, twin sister, and I would
often sit at the table for up to 2 hours after dinner ended just talking and
being a family. That ritual was one that I wanted to maintain once I married.
The major variant now is that dinner is not always home cooked, particularly
during the end of the semester when my kitchen frequently closes,
open only to leftover restaurant containers, take-out food, and prepared
meals. And the fact that evening classes prevent family dinner from taking
place on at least 2 nights a week, and with a 5-year-old, table talk may be
limited to 30 minutes. Even amidst the hectic pace, I still look forward to
seeing my Arthur (my husband) and Jaelyn (my daughter). Inasmuch as
possible, we try to protect our time-together rituals (Day-Vines, 2007).
Reference
Day-Vines,N.L.(2007). Wellness in the midst of adversity and tragedy. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Education and Development, 46,242-246.
what is the importance of family time as part of your wellness? What are some of the factors infringing on family time? Do you think the lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society?
The importance of family time as part of my wellness is that it keeps the line of communication free and open when you are together as a family. You express concerns, suggestions and stroke each other positiveley which leads to harmony within the family.Some factors that infringe on family time are long working hours to make ends meet especially when both parents must work.Also when there is not enough space at home to perform family fun activities. I totally agree that the lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society primarily because the home is the learning institution where you begin to develop moral values, respect for onself, spiritual upbringing, and you are being reared with love and guidancce and when time is not set aside to preserve this values erosion begins.
ReplyDeleteAs part of my wellness, I consider family time to be one of the most important issue when aiming for a better society and a better society starts at home. The time your children spends with you gives them many benefits. The various activities you engage in during family time, provides your children with opportunities to learn new behaviors and skills. Parents spending time with their children allow you to stay connected with them and help them to ward off peer pressure. When a child feels a connection to you and the morals you have taught them, they won’t have a high need for acceptance from peers. Spending time alone with family can also be beneficial to a marriage. Family time is not just about parents spending time with their children, it’s also about spouses spending time together. When both partners are actively making time for each other the family togetherness will more than likely become stronger. A family can eat together, attend Mass, take little trips, little walks, play outside and inside games, and do many other activities together. This in turn will benefit each member spiritually, socially, emotionally, environmentally, and intellectually. Some key factors infringing on family time are the reality that sometimes both parents have to work to financially maintain their family and are too tired when they reach home, which leave no time to spend together. Sometimes the fact that the load is on one parent who is trying to maintain this practice and the other partner is not helping out, this could lead to frustration. Everything begins at home, what a child learn at home is exactly what they will take out into society. If a child learn love, respect, care, acceptance, loyalty, and to be positive, that’s exactly what they will take out into society. If children learn abuse, hate, ignorance, and to be negative, that’s exactly what they will take out into society.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe that the lock of family time is causing the breakdown of values in our society. Family time is important in our lives. I find that family time is the time we take to discuss our feeling with the people who truly cares for our wellness in life. In class I can recall that we discussed our behavior with the people around us. We do not really care for others the way we should. We ask how are you? But honestly I think we do not really care about the response given to us. Our family time is the time when we listen to good advice. We recall the good moments of life and reflect on the bad moment and find ways to improve in our lives. Family times teach us good moral and values. Presently I find that I spent little time with my family because I work and study in the city. I see then on weekends and that time is too little to be able to discuss all the issues that surround us as a family. I find myself not wanting to be home and to keep my own world which consists of work and school. This I think happens to quit a number of people to try to evade the problems that surrounds us as a family. Most of the time each family member take care of their own problems and its best to solve it as a family. Idith
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ReplyDeleteThe importance of family time as apart of my wellness is that my family still have breakfast, lunch and dinner together and most of the time our food are freshly cook at home. During our family time we would discuses about what we have done and what we can do to get the maximum outcome of our time spent together. I spend most of my time with my mother so we have that mother and daughter bond and the family bond because for us every one in our family is important.
ReplyDeleteHere in Belize some factors that is infringing family time is the over worked mothers and fathers. Say for example if the mother work two jobs and the father go out and camp for weeks out of the months, what kind of family time will they have? My answer to that is none. The mother will be tired, stressed out and impatient while the father will be away working to bring in income. Now I think that if they have an older child in the family that would be a plus because, that older child would be able to help control things and have family time with his or her siblings. Sometimes school contribute to the infringing of the family time too, but as family we need to make a family plan and set a special time to have quality time together know that there will always be time to have a family time no matter what Is the cause.
I do not really believe that the lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in a society because, they are a lot of family that has a lot of family time and their children still goes out into society to do what they want to and just do or as they please. Your family can be there for you but if the individual want to go out there he/she will go. They used to have this saying when there is no father figure in a house hold, the family structure tends to be weaker. This I do not agree with or believe in that saying because, there are a lot of families without a father figure who have, has and continue to do good as a family. It all boils down to the individual value if he/she wants to be a positive or negative person in society. You can spend all the family time but, as individuals we tend to do as we please with our life.
The importance of family time as part of my wellness is that it helps to build and maintain a good and strong relationship. During family time you can share ideas concerns and do fun activities together, it also helps to keep good communication within the family. Some factors that infring on family time are family members not being able to be together because of worktime, friends, sports. I strongly agree that the lack of family time contributes to the break down of values in our society, due to the fact that children first learning come from the home, where they are taught values and morals. When family time is being erupted it cause a massive breakdown in the home. Children are not given the love and care they deserve, therefore they look outside the home for that love and affection which can destroy them and in turn destroy our society. Shane
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with ms. Idith because I strongly believe that the lack of family time is causing the breakdown in our society and due to this most of our Belize-an families are broken up causing families to be apart from each other when that should not be so. Also I would have to agree with ms. Christal as well as what leads to a harmonious family is one that spends as much time communicating with each other
ReplyDeletefamily time is important as a part of wellness because with other family members what had impact you, during the course of the day when you were not together be it good or bad.Having clear what is on your heart, you pray as a family, God will take over the rest. some factors infringing on family time now are television, computers, internet, psp games, and ipods just to name a few. these are infringing on the time family once took to tell generational stories. spending time with each other praying and talking. now every member get attact to someone of these gagets that of prefrence.
ReplyDeleteThese gagets are causing the family srtucture to break down. now with the break down of family the society is paying the bulk of the consiquencies. so the material gagets play a role in the break down of family values.
I agree with what Mares said about the value of family and spending time together. the family grow closer to each other to keep the ralationship alive and strong. parent need to play fun games with their children to teach them values. so spending time with family and children even if its just a short time due to work it is still benificial rather than none at all. I believe that family structure is important to the society function.
ReplyDeleteFamily time is very important as part of my wellness because this is the time that the family can come together as a unit and instill value and morals in each other. The communication in family time will help to build on the dimensions of wellness whether it be social, emotional, intellectual or spiritual wellness family talk plays an important role in wellness. Through family time children become aware of good and bad choices which enable them to make the right choices and improve their wellness. Some of the factors that infringes on family time are; work hours, school hour, Space in the home and members of the family just not wanting to have family time. I strongly believe that the lack of family time is contributing to the breakdown of values in our society because if there were family time in each Belizean home then the society would not be breaking down like it is today; children would be influenced positively by parents instead or negatively by friends. They would have more values and make wiser decisions. Discipline starts from home and family time helps in the discipline process when there is no family time there will also be a lack of discipline which then contribute to the breakdown of values in our society.
ReplyDeleteIn my view, family time is very important to my wellness as my family is my focal point, and the essence of my existence. In my family we use this time to share our individual and group experience and build individual relationships within the family. We also do family planning, celebrating the addition of new family members and last but not least care and help each other in their time of grief.
ReplyDeleteEven though family time is so important to me and my family, presently allocating quality time with each other is becoming more and more difficult for us because of the different time schedule every one has. For me, school and working two jobs is really taking up a great deal of my time, this has become necessary so as to keep up the present cost of living.
With my description of family time, I believe that in Belize most families has similar or the same family values. With that said, we all are experiencing similar factors which are infringing on our family time. These infringements are contributing to the break down of values in our society, because the family is where we are thought from birth manners, how to respect others, responsibility, caring and love for each other. Without family time/values as the foundation for preparing our younger generation about the real world, Belize will continue down this path it is presently on.
Omar is Kirk Augustus next name Sir.
ReplyDeleteOk- Kirk Omar Augustus
ReplyDelete@ Rienny, nice post, I would like to respond to the point you mention in your post. you mention that you don’t believe that the lock of family time is contributing to the breakdown of values in our society because a lot of family have a lot of family time and their children still goes out and do as they please. (Am taking, doing as they please, as breaking the law.) Yes, your comment is valid, but,do we really believe that spending a lot of family time together without a structure to the family time is instilling family values, no. i recognize this situation exist needs to be highlighted and receive immediate attention because we will continue to see our youth who seems to have a rounded up bringing fall victims to the ills of our society.
ReplyDeleteOur families continue to break down and this is also true of our society too. I think that the traditional families are structures of strength. Children in this type of family grow with the knowledge of what a strong family looks like. They learn about love, trust and affection and will then grow to find partners to mimic those traits. Since the break down of the family unit, due to divorce, death, carelessness or abuse, these families have been getting weaker and more at risk to harm. Single parents are struggling to protect all sides of the family and children grow in spite of this to carry with them the broken values learned throughout their lives. Instead of love, they learn anger and hate. Instead of trust they learn deceit. Instead of affection they learn and pass on physical, mental and emotional abuses.
ReplyDeleteWe can all agree that the days of mothers working in kitchen are over. Due to this socioeconomic change, it is very important that we find that balance for all families today. It is our hope to fix our society lies in making strong our families. These children are growing up without fathers, and therefore have no idea on how men should act. This simple fact is causing a destructive effect on not only the boys who grow up with obscured views on responsibility, but on all those little girls who never see a healthy relationship and are caught up in sex, alcohol and drugs. They will in turn create their own children with abusive men because they do not know any different. This is yet again another contributing factor to the decline of society.
We, as parents, need to realize that material things and work cannot take priority over our families. We need to get away from those things and concentrate on growing healthy, stable adults to provide strength to the society we all have to live in. We need to go home and kiss our children. Plan to make dinner with them once a week. Listen to their stories. Encourage them to make friends. Play with them on Saturday afternoons. Turn off the TV too and read them a book. Teach them about love and kindness. Show them the difference between truth and deceit. Teach them that they are beautiful and talented. They are our biggest investment of time and like most investments they will return to you more comfort and security than money can ever hope to provide. We need our family time more than ever. The hope of our society is with our children.
Family time as part of my wellness is important as it helps a family to have a strong sense of connection among them selves. It aids in instilling priceless values and morals, it also allows members in a family unit to talk about their differences, give and receive advice, learn and grow together as a family. However, while its important, in our society today there are several factors that infringe on family time such as the amount of hours parents work to sustain their family’s lives everyday; television (parents tend to have the kids watch TV during dinner time while eating so as to take time for them selves to deal with work around the house or de-stress after a long day at work); then theirs also the individual schedules of each relative in a family unit (as kids get older they tend to follow different time line from that of the other(s)). With these factors in play, I can roughly say that it leaves us with no “family time” around for each other. No family time leaves members of a family unit dependent on society to teach them what they failed to receive from their family, hence contributing to the break down of values in Belize’s society. Because of those individual who teaches certain things in society they fall short in include the appropriate values of our humanity that would have been taught to our Belizean if their was family time included in our Belizean’s live.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mares, the more time parents spend with their children as a family, they will all grow spiritually, socially, emotionally, environmentally, and intellectually and become well rounded productive citizens of Belize’s society.
ReplyDeletefamily time in my household is considered as a vital factor. family time allows each and ever individual of that group to share the way they feel about each other or simply issues that they come in hand with on a daily basis. not only does it allows us to share issues but i believe that it also allows us to gather advice and apply them to any problematic or non-problematic issue.factors that hampers family time include late work at the office, lack of help simply around the household, parents having to work two or more jobs or simply school. all these are what hampers family time or one of the main one being parents not having time to deal with their kids simply because they are too exhausted after a day of work. i do agree to a certain extent that the lack of family time has caused a break down in the family because when individuals or simply kids realize that they are not monitored or given the attention they tend to occupy themselves by doing their own things. to an extent with some kids its positive in the sense that they become independent while others stick to troublesome activities that hampers their education and the way society perceive them to be.
ReplyDeletei must say that i agree with christal when she says that when there are not enough activities at home individuals tend to stray away and venture into their own things since there is no family time. The next person i must agree with is miss idith when she says that family spend to far much of a time from one another and that is causing a breakdown in the family.
ReplyDeleteAs a part of wellness, family time is very important, because family it is the central focus of a person’s life and it is what helps to shape our society and our community to function. When you have a family you share your joy and triumph. You are able to share all that life has to offer, the good, bad and the sad, you can grieve together in times of sadness, rather than being alone, which wears out the mental psyche. Strong bonding of families can be done at periods when we are at home eating, since most people work or when there is homework to be done. There are many factors which affect family time, such as having new technology e.g. computer ,single parenting home also having both mother and father working jobs that requires them working shifts or working jobs whereby one of them are not in the home sometimes for weeks, new technology and single parent home. The lack of family time has contributed to the break down of values in society since there is no one to reinforce ethical or morale behavior. In fact even spiritual values have been declining.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with Indith when she says that family helps to instill good moral values and beliefs, since we learn from the people around us. Children especially are influence by what they see. I also agree with Ron that values begin at home. The process of discipline begins at home, and this is especially evident in classroom, where a child would display, no home training as we would say. The main way to maintain wellness as a part of family time is the ability to communicate, spending quality and well meaningful time together, getting to the root off problems that are affecting each other.
My Family is responsible for a major part of my wellness. Without them I would definitely not be here…they were the ones that set things in motion a long time ago that enables me to be here. They are the ones that have taught me all the dimensions of wellness that I know. They have taught me my social skills through the socialization process, my emotional stability as a man has been learned through observation of the men in my family, Judging their reactions to events and my physical fitness and eating habits have been formed by living around a bunch of individuals that are related to me by blood that is my family. In short they influence all my dimensions of wellness. Today I am an adult with my own family and am not able to spend time with my family as I would like to. Some of the reasons being that there are certain social requirements that I must partake in daily such as a Career that enables me to feed them and School if I am to be qualified and successful in my career, social clubs such as Kiwanis that allows me to interact with other members in my world. The lack of time with my family has certainly leaded to some deterioration in the passing on of values, a communal approach to solving problems etc. growing up I remember evening where the entire family would sit together on the steps of the family home and “Kill flies,” which was swatting at mosquitoes with pieces of cloth. During these sessions the family would discuss problems and the way forward as group. A lot of things were learned from differently family members sitting down for an hour or so, it was a cultural strength that unfortunately has been robbed by the vigor of living in a capitalist society that demands time for production and success only. Our new society demand s that both mother and father work to maintain a mortgage, the fancy car and the “keeping up with the Jones’” Lifestyle robbing another essential human resource from the family. Our mothers are no longer their to raise our children. Success today is not measured in terms of raising “Good” children but rather if were able to give them everything material wise that they demand.
ReplyDeleteauthor tylon tillett
renny and idith emphasized the importance of education and sacrificing time to be with family versus trying to uplift ones self. its a struggle but i guess at the end of the day it is to benefit the family in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe importance of family time is very important in one’s overall wellness. Family time is essential as it allows togetherness and reinforces a sense of belonging. I firmly believe that having an emotional bond with family members truly enhances wellness for
ReplyDeleteall involved. For me, my family is my life. When all is good with my children and husband, I consider myself to be well and at peace. There are many ways of securing family time besides at the dinner table. Most families these days cannot have family time around the dinner table as some members of the family work on shifts and have very busy schedules. Most families play cards and board games, some attend sporting activities together, some visits the park on Sundays, some go to church, some take trips, some go bicycle riding, some have a devotional time together, and some take individual time out just to check in with each other to see how family members are coping.
Some of the factors infringing on family time include: young single parent household, where parents are now much younger with no parenting skills and are too tired or stress to involve family time in their day to day activities. In addition, the television plays a key role here, because it is so much easier to sit your child in front of a television set and have them be entertained. While it takes special effort to strike up a conversation and try to find out what is happening with your children.
The family is considered as one of the major social institutions. The family is where a child’s first socialization skills and values are learnt. In today’s word of technology a lot of people’s priorities and values have been skewed. The internet, instant messaging, texting, and cell phones have all been made high priority in people’s lives. We spent a large amount of time doing this; hence the reason for me saying that this does have an effect on the breakdown of values in today’s society. A child or children need affection and attention. It is in the time spent together as a family that children usually get the attention and receive the caring attitude that is usually displayed by family members in their interactions with each other. During this time parents also instill other important values such as religious beliefs, and personal and societal values. I do agree that less and less families are incorporating family time and therefore this is a contributing factor in the breakdown of values in our society.
I totally agree with Cherrie Flowers in her statement about being able to share joy, triumph, sadness and grieve with family members. That is so true; you are never truly alone when you belong to a family. When a person experiences these emotions, family members are there to support you in both good and bad times and that in itself is exhilarating.
ReplyDeleteJuly stated that due to socioeconomic conditions mothers are now more on the job rather than taking care of the home. Again, this is a reflection of the changing times and the
ReplyDeletefact that it now takes both parents income to make ends meet. Things have gotten so expensive that older children at times also need to get a part-time job to assist in their personal needs and educational expenses. This in and of itself is not bad though, for this
can help teach children responsibility and builds their character.
to me family time is important because it is the only time parent and children get to be together to share any information that is positive or negative within and out of the family. they are many factors infringing on family time e.g working parents, single parent who play the role of both parent,parents who cheat on each others, parent who may have a bisability or sicklly, parents who may be addicted to any drug or alcohol etc. lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society, parent is our romodel who set our path straight and guide us when we are going the wrong direction and help us out when we are in need and if we don't have parent our family to help us in any way possible who will.
ReplyDeletei strongly agree with idith family is not just mom,dad sisters, and brothers but also the extended family. and we should not only look out for those around us but for the others as well because we are all family. most of the time we ask someone how are you an left it that way but we need to take into concideration that by saying how may i help make a different in someone life and may change it someday.
ReplyDeletei also agree with whitney and her view about the break down of values in our society. we as parents not only need to monitor our kids but monitor what they watch on TV,the friends they keep,what they do in their freetime and more, we need to do activities together to help us keep a close relationship with our kids. when we lose our kids and trust in them, it is the hardest thing in this world to get back.
ReplyDeleteThe importance of family time as a part of my wellness is to keep the family in harmony, it’s keeping the channel of communication open for each individual at all times, where we can discuss and reflect on ourselves and actions from day to day. Nevertheless in today’s society they are many factors that have captured our attention; like having dinner in front of the television instead of the table, chatting on the internet, texting your friends, socializing at the nearest downtown café or just too busy with work.
ReplyDeleteThere is the saying that says “a family that prays together stays together” and “communication is the key to success” therefore if we are not making time for our family it will contribute to the break down of values in our society. Remember our children listen and learn respect, responsibility, honesty and what it mean to be hardworking from what we teach them; so as they get older and the years pass by, they put into practice what they were taught.
family time as a part of wellness is very important because family influence our life. a family can help maintain a good and strong relationship. through family time families can understand each other better and discuss factors that might be affecting their family, thus building the family to become a better one. However there are some factors that infringes family time. some examples this can be when parents working late, children hanging out on the street side, alocohol use, television, internet,video games just to name a few. I strongly beleive that lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society because through family time parents are able to talk, discuss important factors and guide or lead their children to the right path and to do the right things
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with shakeria when she stated that parents are our role model who set our path straight and guide us when we are going to the wrong direction. when parents knows how to communicate with their children it makes a big differences. children are able to go to their parents for advices and look up to them. I strongly believe that parents can impact their children tremedously by listening to them and communicate effectively with them
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Ann when she stated that family time helps a family to have a strong sense of connection among themselves. It aids in instilling priceless values and morals. I agree with her because through family time families are able to talk about their differences and give or receive advice which can help them grow together as family. I agree that family plays an essential role in ones life
ReplyDeleteWhile we can all agree that there are many factors that can infringe on family time, I believe that the most detrimental are: 1) the obvious decrease in nuclear family forcing one parent or the other to perform the task of two; this would result in both mental and physical draining and ultimately allow for little family time. 2) The early introduction of technological equipments such as computers, television, games and the like. Granted, these have educational benefits and even contribution to social development, however, in no way can they replace the love, care, communication and support that family interaction can provide; 3) Extensive working hours has almost become the norm for survival. This makes it impossible for family time to be effective when the head of the family is absent; and very importantly the lack of awareness for family development before having a family. Sometimes we fail to realize how important the first five years of our child’s development is. If the head of the family does not have the knowledge on how to create a solid foundation for family togetherness and moral, then it will be a struggle onwards. With all that said, I value family time as a part of my wellness because I can understand and appreciate the irreplaceable contributions family togetherness makes.
ReplyDeleteYes! I think that the lack of family time does contribute to the breakdown of our values today. If the foundation is not solid from within the home then at the glimpse of a crisis then individuals will crumble or struggle with making the right decisions and values.
In regards to what Mrs.Cain stated an author said that the family is the basic unit of the society. The causes of the breaking down of the family structure put the community and the society in danger of disintegration. A structure which has a weak foundation will tend to collapse if an adverse event occurs. This situation applies in the societal milieu; once the family structure, as the basic unit/foundation of the society, breaks down the societal disintegration soon follows.
ReplyDeleteThe traditional concept of a loving family must be preserved in order for the whole community to be benefited in the process. In keeping with this, the elements of trust, support and especially love must be integrated into the family life at all times. These elements bind the family into a cohesive structure that will be able to withstand societal challenges. By Frank Nette February,2010
I strongly agree with what Ron said. Family time molds us to what we are in society. Family time is time use to mold us in all dimension of wellness. As a teacher I agree that everything begins at home especially discipline. I think that if our children are well discipline our country will be very productive. Children who lock family time use that specific time to do lots of things parents are not aware of and sometimes the things they do are sometimes negative to their well being. I think that not because we have a hundred and one things to do we should deprive ourselves from family time. Let’s remember the saying that says “Charity begin at Home.” Idith
ReplyDeleteI agree to an extent to what Shekeria, I can recall while going to college my entire family had dinner together it was the only time we shared during the day. This is because my mother is a teacher and my father is self employed. This time my parents took to ask us about our day and things needed at high school. It was also a time to share jokes with each other about our day. As adults we need to be committed to our family for the wellness of our society. We are the ones who decide what we are in society, it maybe addicts, preachers, teachers etc. We are all responsible for our action. Let’s takes responsibility and we will see a creative and productive Belize. Idith
ReplyDeleteFamily time is very important as part of my wellness because it gives you an opportunity to develop your social wellness by finding time to recreate with your family for example travelling together, playing, shopping…. It also helps with your emotional wellness because you can sit down with the family and share your feelings, achievement and thoughts about things affecting the family. Spiritual wellness is also important in family time because it allows us to go to church together as a family and praise and worship God. He should be head of every home without him you don’t have a home.
ReplyDeleteSome factors intriguing on family time are the long working hours. Also some jobs require take home work. Another factor that affects family time is going back to school and the hours spent away from the home. The assignments given and finding time to meet the deadline causes you neglect your family.
I don’t think it’s the lack of family time that causes the break down in society. It’s how you raise your children. You as a parent should let your child/children know who is in control in the home. What you say should do is to set your rules. Let your children know when the rules are broken what are the consequences for breaking those rules. So when your child goes out in the society they will know what is expected of them.
I like the stand point of Ron view in saying that if each Belizean family would only take time out for their family our society would be a much better place for all citizens of this country but we also have to keep in mind that times have change and values and morals that have been pass down seem to be going extinct, so there is an urge for improvement in the lives of our Belizean people when it comes to the family structure.
ReplyDeleteOne of the problems that families face today is not enough time spent. I think there are too many problems, such as money and other societal problems. Therefore, families are going through a lot to keep themselves together. Many times this is due to over scheduling of both parents and children. When parents have too much to do and feel pressure from both the work place and home one of the two if not both will suffer. I believe if you decide that you want to be a parent then you must be there for your children, regardless of what other activities that are occurring in your life. Sharing small meaningful times together is what makes a difference in the life of a family. The importance of family time as wellness is very important. I do believe that lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society. Families spending time together every night keeps the doors of communication open. It’s the perfect times and place to reconnect and to show your kids thatthey are your priority. Sitting across the table is where and when you can find out more about your children’s. The benefits of spending time is to strengthen the family by providing opportunities for communication and building relationships between spouse for married couples and also parents and children, and for single parent families.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Whitney the family is indeed a vital factor because I think family is the most important thing in this life. However, I would want to stress that it is important to monitor kids at all ages they should never be left alone unsupervised, parents should know where kids are at all times and if they can’t be there they should leave there children with a responsible adult. Working late or going to school indeed is major issue in break down of family structures; however each and every one of us has a role to play within our families.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with Alicia indeed lack of family time is contributing to breakdown of values in society. If we could go back to spending more time in caring and nourishing the minds of kids then peer pressure and other outside influences such as T.V. and internet will not take over the lives of children, instead they could receive adequate attention from positive role models.
ReplyDeleteReading Omars comment I strongly agree with him about the importance of family time. Even though parents are not there all the time once we teach our children properly they will do the right thing but also I believe that the society is also to be blame for the break down. There is nothing for the youths to do. They are investing in casinos instead of amusement parks for the children and more entertainment places for parents to take their children that is affordable. We all need to work together to make things better. We need to look out for each other don't say it's not my child and put a blind eye to what is happenning. We should be our brother's keeper.
ReplyDeleteRienny I agree with you. I see what your saying about no matter how much family time spend together that individual will still do what he/she wants. It is so true. We have children who grow up with both parent and one being a minister and their child still goes out there and do as they pleases.
ReplyDelete@ young, i agree with your views on the time famil dont get to spend with each other and reason. i would like to add that the time they do get to spend need to be quality time laso. most of our life we live with cable t.v, internet, and other social network that trap people into loosing family time
ReplyDeleteOmar, my family also values family time and much like yours, we spend a lot of time discussing shared values and goals. New members are super important to us, and we all come together to grieve the passing of a loved ones. Just recently, we were saddened by the loss of my cousin, and I was once again reminded how strong we are when we come together. This was yet another opportunity for us to reflect on our family values and realign our goals.
ReplyDeleteI must also agree, that many people share similar values in Belize, however, there are those that clearly lack the same value for education, liberty and life. We are reminded of this from the daily news; there is some jacking, burglary or murder to report. I hold out the hope, however, that if families discuss and work toward a positive shared vision, that will evident in the overall culture and experiences of the people in Belize. You rightly mentioned some of the various infringements on this precious commodity - family time. My take on this is that some parents must work long hours which takes away from family time. This however, did not start there; it started long before, when that parent was just a child. Perhaps there was little or no family planning, or lack of education or thirst for it. And of course, many other things. What we are seeing now, is merely the consequences of past actions, and what we will continue to see is the repition of a vicious cycle.
Kimberly Pineda
ReplyDeleteGrowing up was a bit different for me as the only girl and the little we had. Our family of six was brought up on the usual tortilla and beans, which was and is still the most delicious meal I enjoy. I must say that my past experience have only made me stronger and more independent. Family time was just watching television together, and eating popcorn. Having tea or dinner we would take turns. I certainly agree that being a part- time student, having to get school work done have interrupted my present family time. Spending time with my husband and daughter is very vague. I believe that the lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society.
Rienny believes that overworked parents takes away from family time, which is true; however, she goes on to say that overwork causes the mother to be stressed and impatient and that in families where there is an older child, the older child can be a buffer for the parents in "controlling' the younger children. I disagree with this frame of mind, because while the eldest child in many families does tend to be given more responsibilities and task it cannot be expected that any child regardless of their rank in the family be expected to buffer parents emotions and to take sole charge of their siblings. Rather, an eldest child can be expected to lend a helping hand in basic tending needs of younger kids; however, the ultimate responsibility still lies with the parents. Reinny, goes on to say that she does not really believe the lack of family time is contributing to the breakdown of family values because eventually an individual makes individual decisions regardless of their family upbringing. However, whether nature or nurture a child’s family upbringing greatly influences the individual decisions they will make as adults. A child reared in an environment whereby they have to fend for themselves and where swearing is seen as commonplace will more than likely feel comfortable with such behavior and perpetuate it in their future. In the same way, a child reared in a single mother household, who is shown the true love of a mother and not made to feel wanting of the love of a father would make better choices than a child reared in a single mother household whereby they are not given enough love and attention to grow into productive citizens. So while there are individual outcomes that seem to be exclusive of a Childs environment; one has to take into consideration the level of nurturing (i.e. family time) that the child is exposed to. Family time is not only that which can be giving by a typical nuclear family, mother, father and children. No, family time, is that time taken by a parent, grandparent, extended family members to share the right ways with a child to nurture and love a child
ReplyDeletei agree with merta saying that the family grows closer to each other to keep the relationship alive and strong.
ReplyDeletei also love that shane believes fun activities do help the family communication and keeps the relationship strong.
Family time is very important to our wellness. The family is the foundation and is where the children learn the necessary values. This is where the value system is instilled and built. However for family time to work, it must be consistent and start at a very early age. “Children do what children see”, this a true statement and I use examples in my very own upbringing to support this quote. Communication is also a factor that is built and allows for growth of self esteem and self confidence of the children. Factors that influence family time: stress, single parenting, time spent on other things. It does contribute to the problems in our society. As stated before the family is the foundation and in reference to the shooting that took place with the eight year old child. He was able to know that gun man is coming showing that the child was familiar with this type of environment.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Kim said that’s basically it for me in terms of family time simple watching tv and eating dinner now and again together. However, values were instilled in me that I have up to today as a grown woman.
ReplyDeleteI also agreed with alexia’s comment in that communication is the key to opening doors within the family. She said it is the perfect time for all to get their priorities together. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
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ReplyDeleteFamily time is considered as; a quality time together with each other. It is a time to show love, comfort and appreciation towards each other. It involves the time spent to talk of one’s daily difficulties, sharing each other belief and giving some positive advice. The activity part involves trips, picnic, and night out at least once for the week. The importance of family time is to help the children develop a strong personality that would help them to be a positive role model in their future. Most of the time parent don’t invest time in their children lives, some mostly believe that buy paying the bills, tuition, get a phone, buying a car is all that matters to them. But their wrong a founded family is brought about be both parents by investing quality family time with their children. Just simply eating together as a family around the dinner table invests some family time with each other. A social view is that of going to watch a movie together as a family show time invested. In our society today both parents are employed which makes no time for the family. They would leave for work early in the morning and arrive late at night. By the time both parents would settle down from work, it bed time for them no time for their kids; their bodies are already tired from the day work. This lifestyle affects the child, because they now are caught up in this materialistic world. The wellness of the children’s are affected socially, physically, mentally. Wellness of this dimension should be instilling from the home. I believe that the lack of family time which refers to the nurture of the child’s life is being a major breakdown of our values in our society. Parents are so dedicated to their jobs that they don’t have the time to discipline and nurture their children in the right path. To conclude, if family time is not being invested more than likely that child will adopt to whatever he/she face while becoming an teenage because the training or time spent was not invested positively. By the time that child reaches adulthood who know what would his/her character will be.
ReplyDeleteHaving to spend time with family is very important.Especially in the up bring of children.As Pamela mentioned that having good family communication attributes to the health and wellness of the family.But!there are times some of us parents work hard to support and raise the children properly example trying to provide good education for them.And at times you fine that along the road you face disappointment that you as a parent would not expect you maybe in teenage pregnancy or drug abuse.Because deep with in you the parent know that you did your best or try to bring that child or children up properly.This is just and example of what can affect a family wellness.things can happen externally or internally which are unpredictable or uncontrollable.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tiffany because you as a parent wont be able to monitor what your child does or how he or she is.And that's how some children start doing drugs or the teen leaves the home early.
ReplyDeleteMy family plays a major role in my wellness as I am the baby the family and I was influenced mostly by my brothers who are very active in sports.I learnt to play basketball at an early age as it is almost like tradition for us to engage in friendly matches of basketball every Sunday morning .My eldest brother is an avid runner who goes for a 3miles run everyday and when I got to the age where I could actually keep up I would join him. When it comes to our diet I would say that it is very balanced. It may come as a surprise to many to find out that a house with all males has the best home cooked meal in town. My mother and father taught all six of us in the house to cook and take care of ourselves so even though she is living in the states the type of food that we daily eat is like she never left at all. The factors that affect infringing in my family time are the busy work schedule that we have to deal with daily. We don’t force our kids to Sunday school and youth groups that will bring them together to socialized with each other. Yes I agree that the lack of family time is contributing to the break down of values in our society because of the work schedule we don’t spend quality time with our kids educating them about the society and problems we are experience presently in our country.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Tiffany and Faye because we as parents won’t have time and patients to listen or monitor our child because of our busy wok schedule. Then we won’t know what our child is experiencing in our society and they start associating with bad friends and doing drugs, leaving home at a young age to live with friends and start commit crime.
ReplyDeleteCommenting on what Alicia has stated above, I agree that due to infringing factors such as alcohol use, television, internet, video games etc. families have difficulties on making positive influences on each other’s lives in order to sustain a good relationship. Due to the lack of family activities in a home, members of a family unit tend to wander off getting involved in their own activities rather than staying involved with each other by creating family time.
ReplyDeleteMerta, what you mentioned about a family praying together, girl no one could have said it better. You hit the nail on the head. Wonderful. A FAMILY THAT PRAYS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER. I grew up believing in that and I'm doing it with my children. Can't go wrong there.
ReplyDeleteYes Annya, parents have to be careful of how they schedule their time. Time is valuable and cannot be bought with anything. The time a parent spends with a child, is exactly what the child will remember later in their life.
Family is defined as a basic social group united through bonds of kinship or marriage that provides its members with protection, companionship, security and socialization. In my family we spent a lot time with each other by having same events and talk about what we did and what we intent to do. I and my brothers and sister along with our parents are very close. The importance of family wellness can be classified into many types but based on how it is with respect to how each member performs and add to its strength as a single unit, the family can be functional “perfect family” is one in which each members perform his/her roll and all basic needs are met and dysfunctional family is the one or none of their criteria are met. While most family is dysfunctional in one way or another, it is still very important to strive for as much “wellness”. It is important because the family serves a vital function that enables its member to become confident, productive, socially and morally accepted individuals. Some of the factors infringing on family time divorce or separation, alcohol, abusive or drug addict parents or siblings, poverty or low income, poor education etc. that describe as a way to make a family life better but what they do in reality is cause breakdown in the family unit. These also include parents who spent more time away from home and their children, leaving them to care for themselves, to spend more times with friends, to watch TV etc. Yes I agree this contribute to the breakdown of values in our society because whatever you learn at home is what you will bring into society so dysfunctional of a family is equal to dysfunctional of society where there is a wide spread of disrespect for elders, for property, for life by delinquent, alcohol, drug addicted, abused, uneducated individual.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with Shekeria because she mention about how family times are important so that family could discuss their problems to me its true because how will I child react if he/she doesn’t have anyone to talk when they are feeling uncomfortable with something. Not every child feel comfortable talking to strangers so here is were our families come in the picture so that they can show us some love, care and respect just so that we as human could feel appreciated. With parents spending most of their time away from a child affects them and allow them reacts in certain way that they are no important.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with Idith because it does take more that just parents and siblings to understand your problem. Everyone needs somebody in their life and feel free to talk to someone. Family is a foundation and it takes a lot to keep it standing especially when it comes to your children and how they would take their self in to society because what they learn home is what they will take out there with them so family time is very important.
Spending time with together as a family is important it allows the family to bond with each other. The family togetherness grows deeper for each other with the more time they spend sharing as a unit. Many worldly things have started to infringe on the time family once spend with each other. Example the material electronic gadgets like computer, psp, television, etc. just to name a few but additional to these worldly things we have lost the meaning of what is vitally needed to be together as a family. We no longer make time to praying as a family. The parents will now prepare the children and send them to church or only mom and children would go. The need to work so hard to maintain our life with all the material things (riches) which we will and can never take to heaven is the one we give more time to. As what is mention in Matthew chapter six verses nineteen through twenty-one “Do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.’ It (material gadgets) is so important to them that they do not give God his day of prayer, yet they except to get what they want in a short space of time. This behavior and lack of family values are the fundamental factors contributing to the corruption and senselessly killing of innocent people. Many families today do not even believe that there is a God. God gave us ten moral laws and some of us find it very hard to live by so how do we expect that we are going to live by the laws of man. I believe that this crime will stop until when we learn to connect our families back to what is truly important. That is love for God, oneself and others. If you do that respect will eventually fall into place and the family structure will be united again. Another factor that I think is being affected that is causing this crime factor is that of love. Love to has lost it essential meaning. Love as defined in first Corinthians chapter thirteen verses four through eight states “love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, id not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in inequality, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believe all things, hope all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” Keeping this in mind, loves have lost its true meaning. I believe if you truly love someone you won’t give them things only money can buy. I say this because some parents say I am buying you all that u want and you’re still not happy I do not know what else to do. Additionally some men fell the same way about their partner. Being able to see someone deeper than just the physical part of them is important. In conclusion the family is the cell in the society. If the cell is weak then all will fall.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Mares has to say in the first part of her blog but I somewhat disagree with what she said in the last part. I find myself disagreeing because we can find some children who come from families with high values and they choose to do wrong with it do to peer influences. On the other hand there are some persons who have negative influences at home or weak family structure and become very successful in life. So I do not agree with that statement. Example if a child is sexually molested at home then eventually end up out if it that does not mean that she will do the same to her family. In certain instances she will be over protective of her family for them not to go through that pain that she had to go through. Not to say that some won’t be affected and use it negatively but the majority won’t. Apart from that I agree with her blog.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what Christal had to say in certain instances however, it’s not the length of time that matter most but the fact that you spend time together. Cause you need to do fun family things that suit the environment that you are in. when it come to spending time with your children or family nothing should be more important than that to me. When it come to long working hours, I totally agree with her on her point. As employers we need to be mindful that our employees also have a family that need contact time to keep the relationship strong and functional. So they need the time to spend with them. This will continue to cause the society to fall apart because there is no one available to teach the child how to be family orientated. When that child grow up with not knowing how to have or create a family orientated home we get mad then the entire community suffer as a result of that one malfunction of a family. Family wellness is vitally important for everything to work well, even you as an individual. If the families not functioning, how will society function? The homes make up society.
ReplyDeleteFamily time plays an important role in wellness for several reasons. We all know that an important family time is during breakfast, lunch, or dinner. These family time alone contribute in many ways to wellness. For example families normally pray together before meals thus instilling their belief in a supreme being. It is also during meals that families engage in discussion thus, strengthening their intellectual and social health. It is through these interactions with one another that members of a family learn about trust, love, joy pain, confidence etc which are all factors that contribute to wellness.
ReplyDeleteDespite the importance of family time to wellness our society has change to such a degree that families are no longer able to spend time together. A major factor influencing family time is carrier. Too often parents become caught up in their struggle to support their family. That enough time is not spent on
Going back to what CArol said it is true that for breakfast, lunch and dinner is when we can sit as a family and discuss all the problems. Here is when our children are around and we can talk and teach them so as for them to practice the same things.
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