|
0
Nerd-Its
|
|
blog (coffee shop)
by The traditional family lacks serious momentum. "Family values" are still high on the list of critical issues for many conservative voters, but these values center on in-your-face issues such as abortion and homosexual marriage. Not to downplay the importance of those, but such an agenda neglects the every-day family values which are also of great consequence - values that include particularly unselfishness (for women) and diligence/responsibility (for men). Why the gender delineation? Because it seems to me that the traditional family roles allow men and women to address character challenges that are particularly typical within their respective gender.
Women, when not careful, have a tendency to think only of themselves. They gossip, bicker, are easily offended, and put their own emotions above all else. In the traditional family role, a woman must learn to overcome these selfish tendencies in order to care for her children and husband. After all, a mother must care for a child no matter much their feet hurt, how upset they are that the toddler flipped his bowl of spaghetti onto the carpet, how much they dislike the smell of feces, or how embarrassing it is dealing with a public scene.
Men, on the other hand, tend to be lazy and irresponsible. They practically live in their favorite armchair, spend hours on video games, procrastinate, take the elevator to go down only two stories, and consistently neglect their yard. In the traditional family role, a man must learn to overcome these lazy and irresponsible tendencies in order to provide for and protect his wife and children. After all, a father must bring home the bacon and keep his family safe no matter how much he wants to go up a level in WoW, watch sports all day, or do just enough to get by at work.
Not all men or women fall victim to these character blunders. Additionally, not all of them need a traditional family role to overcome them - but it is my opinion that the traditional family provides a very effective means of doing so. As the traditional family loses its place in society, society shows the effects: more women than men pursuing higher education, people having less children (and waiting longer to have them), less people having children, and more children being raised by people other than their parents. In other words, with the decline of the traditional family, adults are more selfish, lazy, and irresponsible and children are less cared for, provided for, and protected. I'd venture to say the impact of such a trend on society rivals that of more popular "family values" issues.
Star This to Save in Your Profile 
Add a Comment (5)
Email This
Message Author
Statistics
Thread parent sort order:
Thread verbosity:
RSS
What is traditional? by gnifyus :: NR7 :: Show
I think the first thing that has to be defined is what is meant by a “traditional family”. When I think of the words “traditional family”, I am conditioned by my place in geography and history, and culture, of thinking of the “Wally and Beaver” style of family where the Dad works and the Mom stays home and cooks and cleans. If we look back in history, and even now in some cases, we might see things like arranged marriages, which were common for economic reasons, or roving bands of gypsies who were all one big family not necessarily related by blood; or polygamist marriages containing two or more wives, and children from all of them. Each of these types and more can be considered “traditional” by the people who are involved in those cultures. My own family is probably considered traditional these days; both of us work in order to make ends meet, but we are a two parent family living in suburbia which was once considered the norm. (I do not have a white picket fence though.)
I think it is an error in thought to confuse family form with family function. A band of gypsies, as long as everybody has enough to eat, can probably fulfill all of what a family is supposed to do for one another. I know several divorced men and women who though separated, make a tremendous effort to still make the family function by still keeping involved with the children’s daily activities and such.
And so it’s the contact and interaction that is so important to make a family function in a positive way. Putting the kids in daycare all day and then ignoring them by ‘working from home’ even if both parents are still together, is no family life for a kid; it’s probably worse than an empty house or an amicable divorce in most cases.