(1) What is “family”? (2) There are so many different interpretations of “family”. (3) Some claim that family is a unit living together that contains a mother, a father, and a child or children. (4) Others say that family is the group of people who love and support you. (5) The traditional definition suggests that “family” denotes descendants of a common ancestor.
(6) In the old days family meant the people that you were related to people who shared a bloodline and a common history. (7) The family unit needed to be protected to ensure that the family bloodline would live on in the coming generations. (8) Family was a matter of survival. (9) But as the years passed, the idea of family seems to have morphed. (10) The term “family” began to extend beyond the immediate mother/father/children and include “extended family” of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins but still all people who shared common DNA.
(11) Today, the definition of family has grown even more. (12) Families come in all sorts of different configurations today. (13) Family can consist of friends or coworkers or even pets. (14) People say that they love their best friend “like a sister” or that their mentor at school is “like a second father.” (15) Some people pamper their pets and treat them like children, dressing them in clothes or pushing them around in strollers. (16) Weren’t dogs meant to walk? (17) Families are blended groups, stepparents and same-sex parents and adopted children, people coming together because they share a common bond of love, respect, and support.
(18) Family are the people who accept and love you unconditionally. (19) They don’t have to be related by blood, they don’t have to live with you or even live nearby. (20) Family are the people who make you smile and who give you support no matter what. (21) The definition of family continues to change and expand as our society changes. (22) Family has moved beyond the DNA connection to be a connection of love and respect. (23) True family doesn’t have to be related by blood, they need to be connected through understanding and love.
