The True Meaning Of Family – Definition of Family and What Does It Mean To Be A Family?

Family. It’s not just any other word lost in the pages of a vast dictionary. ‘Family’ is an emotion. Just the mere mention of this word can invoke the most innate feelings of love and belonging in you. Love and belonging is a true family definition. Everyone, even the most solitary soul needs someone they can call a family because family is the one humane aspect that makes a house a home.  And that’s why we must know the true meaning of family.

What Is The True Meaning Of Family?

A family doesn’t necessarily mean your parents, your siblings, or your immediate blood relatives. Family can mean your best friends, your classmates, your teachers, your pet, or even that one person you always wave to at your local coffee shop.

In fact, a family can mean anyone who gives you that comforting feeling of familiarity. Family is the group of people who you know accept you for you. You feel comfortable, safe, special, that you matter, and that your voice matters. Family is that which can make you happy as soon as you see them. They are the ones who stand by you through thick and thin. They are your entire support system. Moreover, keeps you going forward in life.

Family Definition – How Do You Define Your Family?

To be a part of a family is a beautiful phenomenon. It gives us a sense of belonging and love we all crave. But your family isn’t always limited to just your parents, grandparents or siblings. Your family can also be your closest friends, your teachers or your mentors -your chosen family. The true definition of family lies not in blood relations but is measured in the amount of love and respect people hold for each other.

The definition of a true family is just this. A group of people who have each other’s back and are willing to go to the ends of the earth to bring a smile to the other’s face. Call it a true family or a real family—the true family definition is the sense of loyalty, selflessness, love, and genuine care and concern for others.

Strengthen Your Ties

It is difficult to find people who want the best for you without any ulterior motives. However, once you do, make sure you fight for them to stay no matter what. There will be hurdles along the way and huge fights where your relationship may seem too fragile to hold on to. But remember this, overcoming these hurdles together will only strengthen your ties. After all, at the end of the day, the true meaning and definition of family lies in how much you care for one another.

Sometimes your chosen family, vis-a-vis your friends, co-workers, mentors, or teachers, may seem more helpful in rising above yourself, but never forget your family too. After all, they have known you your entire life and have loved and cared for you since the very beginning, no matter what. 

So go out there into the real world and find your chosen family. Those who will stand by you no matter what and will always support you no matter what. But make sure you never forget where you came from because that is where you will always truly belong.

The Importance Of A Family

When we talk about the basic necessities required to sustain life, we focus mainly on food, clothing, and shelter. However, we forget to talk about human interaction. Believe it or not, all human beings require some sort of human association. Without it, we cannot survive. We slip into extreme depression or resort to suicide as a cure for the loneliness we feel due to the lack of this human feeling. Therefore, we require exposure to our own species. Man cannot survive in a solitary unit.

Family is your primary exposure to the same species as you. It is the most basic level of human recognition. A child begins to develop a sense of self-concept by comparing himself to his family. Therefore, a family is essential for the very building of your personality. Family teaches you your first lessons in everything, be it responsibility, forgiveness, letting go of petty fights or caring about others. One cannot stress the importance of having a family anymore. And this is the true meaning of family.

Family Bond Matters

Man is a social animal. Ever since the beginning of time, man has required an association with emotional make-up designed similarly to their own. We all have an innate need to connect with our species. Family is one of the major factors that fulfill this necessity.

The need for love and validation is a human necessity. Family is that one body that will willingly fulfill those needs. A family with an unbreakable bond can be challenged but never severed. No matter how bad the times are, your true family will be within a mere arm’s reach. They’ll stand ready to help you fight your battles and guide you on the long path of life. After all, a family is what helps a person make their life worth living, and we should value the true meaning of family. For many people, the best approach to life when it comes to the importance of family is a family approach or being family-oriented. So what is the family-oriented meaning? 

Family-Oriented Meaning – What Does it Mean to be Family-Oriented?

Most people think being family-oriented means you cannot think beyond your family. In popular culture, being family-oriented is often considered a negative trait. The new generation believes in independence in the highest regard, and this independence often comes at the cost of neglecting the ones you call family. Years later, however, the same people regret not having enjoyed those moments of togetherness. Attachment is not a curse, and although family can hold the power to hurt you the most, it is this same family that you can trust to care about you enough to heal you.

How To Be Family-Oriented: Benefits of Being Family-Oriented 

Every member of the family should consider themselves family-oriented. This does not mean that one mindlessly begins to place their family before their own needs. When each family member is family-oriented, every family member enjoys the same amount of care that the other members provide. Of course, this equation must have some fluctuations—You cannot measure or pit things like love and care against each other. At the same time, a family consists of a group of people cautiously linked with one another, each having a role to play. As long as each member actively fulfills their role, the entire group will comprehend the meaning of being family-oriented, as they will start witnessing the advantages of the family setup. No one hates having a support system they can fall back on!

Are You Family-Oriented?

It is easy to be family-oriented in today’s day and age. All it takes is a little time and energy. Put away your screens for a bit (after you finish reading) and take a walk with your family members. Talk to them, ask them questions about the part of their lives you do not see, and merely show that you care about and love them. You can easily let your family know that you care about your family with these methods, and they will never fail to reciprocate the same care and affection. Everyone likes to receive the same care and support they display toward you. A relationship can only sustain itself when both parties engage in equal give and take. If you solely attempt to extract love and care from someone without reciprocating, it is bound to deplete one day.

How To Build A Strong Relationship Within Your Family?

Every relationship blossoms on the basis of trust. If your child begins to trust you fully and completely at an early stage, the odds are, they’ll still be that connected to you in their teenage stage.

Build Trust

Getting someone as pure as a little child to trust you is easy. What makes it hard is to maintain that trust as they grow up. That means their secrets should remain secrets, no matter how silly they may seem. That means you should be able to make time to hear them out, no matter how bad the work is. This also means being able to trust your child to tell the truth, no matter how fishy things may seem.

Trust is like a spider’s web. You invest all your time and effort trying to build it up, and one small mistake may ruin it all. Trust is fragile and complicated, and when you try to build it up again, it won’t ever be the same. Something as delicate and exquisite as trust must be protected and treasured. Apart from this, there are certain things you should do as parents to create smooth compatibility within your family. All you need to do to set the gears going is to facilitate contact among the different members of your family.

Spend Time

Sit together and plan to spend quality time with your family; organize family get-togethers, family dinners, karaoke nights, and family game nights where you all sit and sing together or play a board game and whatnot. This will help the family get to know each other better.

You can also have daily talk sessions where you all leave everything aside and just talk to each other about any random thing for at least 15 minutes. This will help you think of the people in your family as individual people and not just members of a family. For example, kids think of their mothers only as mothers, and they often fail to recognize that their mother is a separate entity who has certain likes, dislikes, opinions, or problems. It helps family members to disengage from their bubbles and step into others’ shoes.

How Does A Family Affect Teenagers?

Most teenagers stop feeling this sense of familiarity with their parents once they start growing up. They lose that confidence and trust that they once had in their parents and begin to search for a family amongst their peers. While this is healthy, “normal”, one might say, it does play a major role in a teenager’s life. Making friends that seem as close as a family is a great thing, but not when you begin to push away people who truly care about you.

All of us experienced that one stage in life where our own family embarrassed or irritated us. Most of these experiences are direct results of parents attempting to connect with their children. While they mean well, the method they use to make this connection can often result in uncomfortable situations for teenagers.

Parents try to adhere to teenage trends thinking that by doing so, their children will be more receptive to their attention. Parents should try to dress, talk, and behave in such a way that gives a sense of belonging and understanding to the children. In an attempt to befriend their children, parents lose out on their primary goal: preparing their children for the tough future, they have to face.

However, this usually has negative consequences, wherein children start to think of their parents as a source of embarrassment rather than someone they look up to.

A strong connection can be maintained between parents and their children if there is an undisputed understanding within them. Parents and children can be the best of friends if they trust and understand each other; it should be the parents’ duty to rebuke as well as reform.

Also Read: There are some ways mothers can adapt to reduce the stress levels in working moms.