You may have been at this "family thing" for awhile now or just getting started, and gradually some lightbulbs are clicking off about many issues related to family. My awakening to the significance of having a family of my own began back in 1999 when I realized after my pregnancy announcement, how much people suddenly were more interested in my life. The phone calls increased, a baby shower was being planned at the time, and relatives and friends started asking questions about my future, the father, and sharing advice about things we had never talked about before like parenting.
I will be the first to admit I have been forever changed since having my own family which increased from three to six members over the years then throw in extended relatives and in-laws and remarriages. I don't even see the childhood family I grew up with in the same way I once did and neither did I go along with the programming either. As my family grew in size over 10 plus years, so did my eye balls! I started noticing everything that was wrong and right about things like: the way our society treats families, parenting practices, employment issues, relationship, entertainment, food, shelter, traditions, morals, spirituality, etc.
Everything was up for speculation externally and internally more-so once my family came along. I wanted to sincerely know whether what I had been fed over the years by all from family doctors to media was indeed factual. I started thinking more about childhood, because I had four children who were relying on me to share honest, accurate and fair information with them that could help with learning more about themselves. I yielded on some questionable knowledge given to me over decades and put it through a filter I created after I saw lie after lie show up during my personal, spiritual journey that my Lord moved me to go on before children got here. I told myself, "Wait a minute, do I really want them to emulate my upbringing? Do I want them to mirror my school experience? Should I be ushering them in a direction just because it is familiar to me?" The jury was out in my mind about these things, but when the verdict came in, "Guilty." No, I couldn't give them a model of everyone and everything that had been present in my life and call it "good." There were plenty of wrongs and these children deserved a chance at a better life, better start and more. Isn't that what decent relatives and ancestors wanted for our generation?
Having family does impact your personal views as much as you would like to fight with the changes within. We have to face the fact that our perceptions are not always grounded truth and we are just not as sweet, kind, and loving as we would like to think. Children show us our true selves and sometimes all we can do is swallow our proud and work on being better to ourselves and those around us.
Nicholl McGuire is the author of many books and shares spiritual insight on YouTube channel: nmenterprise7.
I will be the first to admit I have been forever changed since having my own family which increased from three to six members over the years then throw in extended relatives and in-laws and remarriages. I don't even see the childhood family I grew up with in the same way I once did and neither did I go along with the programming either. As my family grew in size over 10 plus years, so did my eye balls! I started noticing everything that was wrong and right about things like: the way our society treats families, parenting practices, employment issues, relationship, entertainment, food, shelter, traditions, morals, spirituality, etc.
Everything was up for speculation externally and internally more-so once my family came along. I wanted to sincerely know whether what I had been fed over the years by all from family doctors to media was indeed factual. I started thinking more about childhood, because I had four children who were relying on me to share honest, accurate and fair information with them that could help with learning more about themselves. I yielded on some questionable knowledge given to me over decades and put it through a filter I created after I saw lie after lie show up during my personal, spiritual journey that my Lord moved me to go on before children got here. I told myself, "Wait a minute, do I really want them to emulate my upbringing? Do I want them to mirror my school experience? Should I be ushering them in a direction just because it is familiar to me?" The jury was out in my mind about these things, but when the verdict came in, "Guilty." No, I couldn't give them a model of everyone and everything that had been present in my life and call it "good." There were plenty of wrongs and these children deserved a chance at a better life, better start and more. Isn't that what decent relatives and ancestors wanted for our generation?
Having family does impact your personal views as much as you would like to fight with the changes within. We have to face the fact that our perceptions are not always grounded truth and we are just not as sweet, kind, and loving as we would like to think. Children show us our true selves and sometimes all we can do is swallow our proud and work on being better to ourselves and those around us.
Nicholl McGuire is the author of many books and shares spiritual insight on YouTube channel: nmenterprise7.
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