The American Family

With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, we will examine a major Thanksgiving element. Families vary, but the one around myself could not be better. By better, I mean ideal. I have two parents who would do almost anything for me, and a sister who is my best friend. All four of my grandparents are coming to celebrate the upcoming November holiday with us. Over this long weekend, cousins from both sides will come for a visit. We all have our difficulties, but I am so glad my family has not been corrupted.

Unfortunately, the American family is at a stage of decline or maybe evolution. Parents are career and Blackberry oriented while kids spend a beautiful late Autumn day playing X-Box. In addition, these time wasting video games are violent and geared for kids to be attracted to such brutality. In my opinion, such games could rot our brains just as candy rots our teeth. Families do not talk like they should. I know that if I need something I have three people I can and do go to. Just think what kids think of their parents these. Just for anybody under eighteen's information, parents are not chefs, or maids, or chofers, or butlers, or gift givers, or slaves to that matter. Parents are loving. Parents motivate, and they cook, drive, clean, and serve our every need out of endearment.

At the age of 14, I see two parenting extremes. In one case, parents give freedoms that were not even imaginable at 12. This is the path to independence. The parents are still responsible and do not abandon the child, but the lessons may come through well or poorly made choices. On the other end of the spectrum, parents watch their kid through a microscope. Everything is a crisis. This may not be terrible. As a teen, I love to have parents who watch over me while giving me the freedoms, as in the first situation. Making plans is difficult when dealing with the two extreme abyss.

What is the "ideal" family? Is it impossible? Can anybody be like these families we watch in the "Brady Bunch" and "Happy Days"? No, we are not written for laughs. Families fight, but the fights should never outshine our greatest triumphs. Genesis families were very dysfunctional. Cain killed his own brother! Perhaps, the ideal is not "Happy Days", nor Genesis.

On the other hand, my family may be ideal to me, but not to the people down the street. Families work. From New York to Napa Valley and everywhere in between, I hope your "ideal" family has a wonderful Thanksgiving.