The Changing Face of Family

April 8, 2012 by Dave

Peek into the lives of four unique families that illustrate trends in the nature of family. Jaclyn Youhana mixes trend statistics with personal examples of multi-generational families, parents caring for children with disabilities into advanced years and families waiting for marriage and children. She concludes with the story of the Gentises, whose fourteen children (six biological and eight adopted) cover a span of thirty-three years:

The large household exceeds the average number of people per married-couple households, which was 4.3 last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

In August, the family will have four 8-year-olds.

The Gentises own four vehicles, including a 15-seat passenger van. This will be the 18th year a Gentis child has been involved in high school marching band and the 21st year one has been in middle school marching band. There is one grandchild. For now.

Take a minute to read through this great snapshot of how family has been changing in recent years.

Via: Families in All Shapes

No Comments / Posted in Family Structure

Jake’s Story: Reconnecting and Support for Adult Siblings

April 8, 2012 by Dave

Meg Kissinger tells about reconnecting with her siblings and helping her brother Jake who has struggled through a lifelong battle with depression. She talks about lessons learned over the course of a family getaway to Mexico.

Just before dinner on the evening before we left, a sea turtle laid her eggs on the beach, and this created a great commotion. Sea turtles are precious, and the people of LaVentana go to great lengths to protect them.

By the time we got to the shore, a crowd had gathered, cameras clicking, people bending forward, stretching their necks for a better view down the deep black hole.

“Hurry! Hurry,” a young boy said to his mother as she scooped the eggs from the hole and gently placed them into a Styrofoam box. Later, she would bury the eggs in a nest away from the water where kite boarders and windsurfers could not smash them.

The Mexican sky had turned hot pink as the sun started to set.

I stood there next to Jake and thought about how the same kind of drama was playing out between us.

Life and death and the urgent need to keep each other safe.

We help one another because we are family, and that’s what good families do.

“You can stay with us as long as you need to,” I told him.

Be sure to see the rest of this great meditation on what it means to be family as adults:

Via: Can Adult Siblings Connect When Mental Illness is Part of the Mix?

No Comments / Posted in Adult Siblings

Inspiring Family by Example: A Tradition of Teaching from the Ghandi Family

April 7, 2012 by Dave

Hitendra Wadhwa shares his experience with teaching powerful lessons via a unique patience and focus on example. It’s something he learned from this Mahatma Ghandi’s grandson:

When Arun was 16 years old, he once accompanied his father to the city and was handed over the family car to run some errands with the commitment to return and pick up his father at 5 p.m.  Arun was excited about having the car all by himself, and in the city.  He finished his errands and then decided to go to the theater to watch a John Wayne double feature. By the time it finished, it was 5.30, and he rushed to get to his father and arrived there to find him pacing up and down, worried.  His father’s first question was, “Why are you late?”

Arun responded with a lie.  He explained that getting the car fixed at the garage took an unusually long time, not realizing that his father had already called the garage.  Arun’s father was quiet for a while, and then asked his son to stop the car so he could get out and walk home. Arun was taken aback, and asked why his father wished to walk. After all, home was still 18 miles away!  His father responded, “There’s something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn’t give you the confidence to tell me the truth, that made you feel you had to lie to me. I’ve got to find out where I went wrong with you, and to do that I’m going to walk home.”  

There was nothing Arun could do to make him change his mind—and nor could Arunleave him and go away.  Arun recalled later, “For five and a half hours, I crawled along in the car behind father, watching him go through all this pain and agony for a stupid lie. I decided there and then that I was never going to lie again.”

That’s a terrific example of teaching with patience and willingness to sacrifice rather than anger. I’m not such a big fan of teaching with guilt, but you’ve got to admire the clear dedication to parenting that this example shows.

Via: http://www.inc.com/hitendra-wadhwa/how-heroes-inspire-you-to-be-your-best.html

No Comments / Posted in Parenting

1940 US Census Data Released

April 7, 2012 by Dave

The largest collection of US Census data ever provided to the public was released this week on the1940census.com. This comprehensive snapshot of America includes 132 million US residents alive during World War 2, painting a portrait of “The Greatest Generation”, as pointed out on the website:

Many of these individuals are part of what has been called the greatest generation.

These are people who:

  • Survived the Great Depression
  • Fought in the Second World War
  • Innovated technology (TV, Microwave)
  • Sacrificed in the name of freedom
  • Practiced thrift and compassion
  • Understood hard work and industry

Do you have roots in the Greatest Generation? Take a look:  the1940census.com

No Comments / Posted in Family History

Climb Your Family Tree

April 7, 2012 by Dave

Tom Joyce suggests we should all get a little more interested in our ancestors in his post from mtairynews.com:

One thing I really find irritating about the “Me Generation” of today is that too many people have no interest whatsoever in history, either from a national or regional perspective or that of their own families.

I learned this hard, cruel lesson from being the “official genealogist” of my clan. This family history search began quite by accident during a hike one day in the foothills of Patrick County, Va., when I literally stumbled across a tombstone in the middle of the woods.

The man buried there had died in 1896, and his last name was one in my family background. His appeared to be a lonely grave on a hillside, but as it turned out there was actually a complete cemetery there although most of the graves had been hidden by undergrowth. Nearly all were designated only by field stones, a common practice with burial sites of the 1800s.

The sad thing was that this person’s weathered grave marker bore a common inscription that was still legible more than 100 years later: “Gone but not forgotten.” However, in my mind this man had been forgotten, and I vowed at that moment to learn all I could about him — so the words on the headstone would be true.

Read more: Mount Airy News – Every family has a tree that should be climbed

No Comments / Posted in Family History