My Family

Family relationships are important as they help us interact with the wider social world. The family is where we first see how relationships work by observing our parents, our grandparents, siblings and other family members relate to each other. The quality of our family relationships impact upon the person we become. Supportive and nurturing family relationships contribute to our well being while abusive and tense family relationships are detrimental to our stability.

The family is dynamic and affected by outside influence. Things that happen at work or school affect our actions in the home. Sometimes after a hard day at work parents are tired and uninvolved with the rest of the family. Similarly children and teens may find themselves fighting with family members after a challenging day at school.

Challenging days at the office and at school are bound to happen from time to time, but if we let the negative effects build up over time, there may be long lasting effects that are emotionally harmful to family members. For this reason it is important to release stress. Talk about the things that are bothering you. Share your day with your family members and do fun things together to relieve the stress.

Sometimes if we allow the stress to build up, we have conflict in the family. One type of conflict we may find in the family is sibling rivalry, that is competition or ill will between brothers and sisters. Each child in a family competes to establish themselves as individuals. Children tend to fight more in families where they are not taught that fighting is not an acceptable way to resolve conflicts.

These fights can become more intense where children do not learn to respect the rights of others. Some level of competition between siblings is unavoidable and if this does not escalate, the competition can even be healthy. A moderate level of rivalry can show that each child is assertive enough to express his or her differences with other siblings.

There are positive ways to get your parents attention without belittling your sibling or comparing yourself to them. You can express your personality, your merits and your talents without using a measuring stick against the achievements of your brother or sister. You are unique and your talents are equally worthy as those your sibling may possess.

It is important to respect the needs and wishes of your sibling. Respect also plays an important role in all relationship. It is important to maintain close relationship