Defend the traditions

    Traditions are, "inherited patterns of belief or behavior". All families have traditions, even some they don't think about such as their family culture. We learn these traditions from watching those around around us, which usually entails our family members. 

    One example would be the way we look at social class. There are usually three levels of social class that we recognize, upper class, middle class, and lower class. Often times we determine these class's by wealth, but there are also many other contributing factors such as, location, occupation, connections, appearance, race, education, and more. 

     If someone were to come from an upper class family they may have the belief that they are better than others and that they can have whatever they want. 

    Here's the question we need to ask ourselves; what traditions are we teaching our children? After watching many videos and reading multiple articles this week I came to the startling realization that the things we are teaching our children today, are dangerous. 

    Some of the traditions we are teaching our children today is that having two parents isn't necessarily important, they can get by without a mom or a dad. And that have same sex parents is just as healthy for children as having a mother and a father. We are also teaching them that it's okay to judge and to label others. 

    These all have detrimental effects on the family. We need to teach our children the importance of hard work and not giving up, we need to teach them how to dream. And we need to teach them the importance of structure and how standing together as family will help strengthen everyone. 

    I firmly believe that the best traditions to teach our children are those that help keep a family together. A home with a mother and father who are active in their lives. A father who works and mother who nurtures the children. A family that works together and protect each other, stick together. 

    I came across some very heart breaking stories this week, about the detrimental effects of broken homes. One example is that of Tammy, a single mom who could be labeled as being in the lower class, who works so hard everyday to provide for her two sons. Although Tammy is hard working and doing her best to provide for her sons, they don't respect her and they are actually very bitter. What is Tammy's problem you may ask? Tammy is a single mom, she has a lot of pressure on herself to meet both parents roles and that's a difficult position. Although she is working hard and providing for her children, she is not able to be at home very much and spend that necessary time making emotional connections with her children. Instead her time is filled with working a full time job at Burger King, and a 10 mile walk to and from work everyday. 

     Another series of stories I came across this week is that of the poor Mexican families that are trying to cross the boarder and make a better life for their children. Although their intentions are good, and they are trying to benefit their children's futures and get them to better circumstances, the ways they have to go about it are dangerous and actually cause damage to the family. 

    Usually the Father will have to cross the boarder and find work to start earning money to pay for the families way across the boarder. This can lead to him being away for a long time, anywhere from 6 months, to years. In that time children and mother are forced to prepare and also help work and save money. It costs about $4000 per person to cross the border. Secondly, they can only bring what they can run with on their journey which often leads to the trouble of not having enough water. This is dangerous because they are forced to cross desert terrain. Hundreds of people die from dehydration and violence when trying to cross the border. Not only this but sometimes if they are crossing illegally they are forced to carry things that might get them into trouble such as drugs. And violence increases leading to the horrifying statistic of 1 in 3 woman getting raped or sexually assaulted. And by the time the family finally is across the border they are then forced to work less than ideal jobs with low income usually, and they can't always afford to live in the safest areas. Not only that but then they are thrown into a whole new culture where they have to try and learn the language and understand why people act the way they do. It can be very easy to become isolated. 

     In both of these stories the parents all had good intentions and were doing what they were doing for their children. So what was the problem? The problem is because of how our world looks at culture and class, they weren't able to receive much help. They were forced to put up with less than ideal circumstances and endure great struggles. Even though they were doing all that they could to benefit their children it didn't work because they had to separate the family in the process. 

    The best traditions for us to be teaching our children is to stick together as a family. To teach your children to offer a helping hand when able, to their own family and the family of others. We as a world need to stop labeling and stop shutting people out. As we all help one another and help the family thrive, the whole world will benefit and prosper. 

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ZpauS5Doo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Oqeov0Gcw+

http://www.familystructurestudies.com/

https://byui.instructure.com/courses/42998/files/8956148/preview

https://byui.instructure.com/courses/42998/files/8956582/preview