The family unit

Asking a question such as whether a family helps or hinders the development of a well-balanced individual is akin to asking whether an axe can chop down a tree? In essence, it all depends how good the axe is, whether it is sharp enough and sturdy enough to do it's job efficiently. The family is very much like this. How good the family is determines whether it is efficient enough to do it's job. A blunt axe will not chop down a tree and a poor family unit will not help create a well-balanced individual. Anyhow, enough of the strange analogies. Whether a family unit is effective at developing a well-balanced individual is a more complex issue than a simple ...

Family. There are many different interpretations of the word family. The ones you live with may be what you see as your family. These people are the people who you see all the time and have to put up with and without drastic action, you can't get rid of! Those who you live with are likely to be the ones who affect your perception of the way things work in the world and your opinions and your outlook on life is bound to be influenced in a way by those people. For most children that will be your mum and dad and any other siblings that you may have. These are the people you are attached to and can't get away from and the people you can always fall back on when you're in ...

After much deliberation about how I thought my family to be I decided it was the way I wanted it. In an age where we have more and more nuclear families, mine is still a sprawling network of strange relationships. I have my mother who looks after my sisters child who stays with me half the week, I have my other sister who lives round the corner from my mother with her partner and daughter. I have another sister who lives down south with her daughter. My brother who lives with his dad, my dad who lives with his stepwife, two step sisters who live local to them, my brother, his wife and step daughter live in the same village. My partner who I stay ...