Culture and Family

Every family has their own culture because not everyone's family is the same. Each family has values, beliefs, traditions, hobbies, roles, and personalities that differ from the next. We usually don't think about families as having their own culture. Instead, we mainly apply that term to countries and societies. However, culture is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "the beliefs, customs, arts... way of life... way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization." The home can be seen as a small society/organization, comprised of family members, and it's important to ask ourselves what culture we want to create within our families. What values and beliefs do we want our family to have? What traditions and hobbies do we want to include? What roles do each family member have? The home is the place where children are taught and molded into who they are, so the culture we create within our families is very important.

Talking about roles, ones of my dad's many roles in the family is the jokester. He barely asked me, "What do you call an aligator in a vest?" I, having the role of the smart one (hehe) did not hezitate to reply "AN INVESTIGATOR!" I just had to add the joke, because it does show a little bit of my family culture. Cultures, although, are not just influenced by internal forces, but external forces as well. Class is a major part of culture, and the class that you are born into can affect your beliefs and how you act. There were some videos that I watched on YouTube in my Family Relations class called "Tammy's Story," "How to Marry the Rich," and  "Trouble in Paradise." These video gives great insight into the class system in America and how it can affect who we are and others around us. I won't go into it in this blog post, but I encourage you to watch it. I also encourage you to identify elements of your culture in your family and see just how unique your family is.