Importance of Family

Take a pause for a few seconds and ask yourself, "Why do you work so hard?" What motivates you to do so day after day? Most of the readers may utter a single word to answer both the question, 'My family,' and may share few experiences of their own. But, what is a family? All of us inherit our physical attributes from our parents. However, when you start interacting with the outside world, you realize that they are not good enough to ensure your success, not even sufficient for your survival. When you find yourself in such a situation, what is it that sustains and supports you. The values which were passed on to you by your family make your survival and growth possible. The values such as patience, care, understanding and commitment that were invested and instilled in you, differentiates you from the rest. If you are already a successful person and I don't mean it in the monetary sense only, then it only underlies the values you inherited from your family.

Importance
It is not difficult to infer the importance of family. You may or may not be aware, but your family was the first school you entered as soon as you arrived in this world where 'Survival of the fittest', is the golden rule. In other words, 'Let the unfit perish', is the motto. When you stepped into this world, you were unfit to survive on your own and by the rule, a perishable entity. However, your arrival made your family happy and they took you home and from day one, you started learning about love, care and family relationship. Your parents didn't change your wet nappies only to stop you from wailing at 3 AM and to have an uninterrupted sleep, but, because you were uncomfortable with it.

Family
Your family is the environment where you learned to use your faculties, and to understand and cope with the physical world. You knew, you are the kingpin of your family. It is the place, where you learned how a family works, by observing how your parents, grandparents, your siblings and rest of the family members deal with each other.

With the passage of time, you matured and started taking note of other people on the fringe of your family and then of those, outside your family and how your family members interacted with them. It is at this point in your life, when you learned, what is meant by a healthy relationship and how to make a relationship last. You also noticed, how your family coped and adjusted with the ups and downs of life. Do you remember, whether your family exposed you to these difficult times or were you cocooned in the safety of your family, totally unaware of them.

Identity
What you learn from your family becomes your value system, forms your perceptions and basis of actions. Though it not a rule of thumb, but, by being what they are, your parents make it easy for you to think that you can also do it. It is said that a doctor's child has more chances of turning out to be a doctor than the rest.

In the true sense, an individual is known by his or her actions. Have you ever noticed that your actions always confirmed to the basic values you acquired from your family. Did you ever delved deep inside them to find the seeds of thoughts that lies at their bottom? Who planted these thoughts? These are thoughts which give you courage, when you are riding the wave of fortune at its deepest trough with its crest hanging over your head like a sword.

Your family is also the place where you expects a hug when you skins your knee for a third time in the week, a pat of encouragement on the back for a 'A' or a scolding for your deeds. It is the place you took your woes, complaints and questions to. As the saying goes, you can only give what you received. Your family, to a large extent predetermines how and what you will give to your children. If you received a slap for every skinned knee or a beating for something you never did, then I guess, it will take a very positive outside influence to stop you from repeating it to your kids.

Every individual, barring few unfortunates, are similar to the Earth that is enveloped by its environment that acts as a protective layer and keeps the empty space out. The earth is populated and fertile because of it. For an individual his family acts as one such environment and gives him a chance to grow, prove his worth and claim his rightful place in this world.