Family Influence

Is the family the most influential way to learn how to think, feel, and act in society?
I believe that family does play a major role in the way we behave in society. As we grow, we learn many things from our family that are beneficial to our society. Almost everything that we learn as a child comes from parenthood and how we react with our parents. Our parents went through the concepts of life, and they were exposed to society as a kid and an adult, which we learn as we get older as well. Our families, especially our parents, have a lot of wisdom about what goes on life, since they have already experienced many parts to it. They are the ones who can teach us what they have learned, and they can show us how we should act, feel, and think about our modern-day society.
“Probably the strongest influence in our lives is the family we grew up in. Our birth order, the personality's of our parent(s), the way we were treated by our siblings, the socioeconomic status of the family, their education, the place we lived — all of these shaped us at the time when we were most vulnerable to being shaped. Besides these tacit influences, our parents taught us all the basics of "proper" behavior. When we were small children, we jolly well did whatever impulse entered our heads. We did not know that it was socially unacceptable to eat with our fingers, to play with the vase on the coffee table, to hit our brother, to break our toys. These and a million other rules were drummed into our heads by our parents. Some of this is OK, some not so OK. Either way, it is often difficult to change things inculcated at such an early age.” (The Michael Teachings by Phillip Wittmeyer)
Should family be the most influential?
I believe that family should be the most influential aspects of our society. I believe that growing up without a family would make many people lost and not know how to act in society. Our parents are our role-models as kids, and we learn from them. If we have nobody to follow these aspects of off, I believe that humans would have a hard time out in the “real world”. However, I do believe that family is not the only place to look for how we behave in society. After our family has showed us and taught how we should act, we can go out in the world and experience them first-hand. One family cannot show all the aspects of how to behave, think, act, and feel towards society, we need to live it ourselves and know what else is going on in the world.
In other cases, family may not be the most influential way…
“It has been said that parents always screw up their kids, it is just a matter of how bad. Some seventy to eighty percent of families are considered "dysfunctional" by family therapists. It is probably true that no matter how well intentioned and how well informed parents may be, they cannot know exactly the correct way to rear a particular child. Many parents are not so well intentioned, and few are well informed. Consequently, most children grow up with a considerable burden of False Personality. Are you one of these? Was your mother alcoholic, her unpredictable behavior making you indecisive? Did your uncle molest you, making you mistrust all men? Was your father cold and distant, making you cold and distant? Was your sibling the gifted or favorite child, making you feeling inferior or unwanted? Did you grow up in poverty, causing you to feel insecure about money and possessions? Were you a weird kid that other kids made fun of, making you shy? Did your strong-willed father dominate your weak-willed mother, making you a male chauvinist pig?” (The Michael Teachings by Phillip Wittmeyer)
What are other ways we learn how to think, feel, behave and act in society?
Another way of how to express our feelings towards society is to actually just go out and experience what else is in our world. Our family is a huge starting point of where we learn these concepts, but we need to go “outside the box” and start to think for ourselves. As we become adults, we will need to start doing many things on our own, and not be so dependent on our family. For example, when I went to college, I knew how to do my laundry and other necessities to my life that my parents had taught me. Some kids in college are somewhat “lost”, because they were never taught how to do their laundry or be independent. In this case, you need a strong and helpful family that can help you get ready for the outside world. If you do not have a strong family background, I believe that the influence of family will not play a major role in your life.
As a child, we all went to grade school and high school. This is also a major place where people learn how to feel, think, and act towards society. We meet friends, teachers, and other people besides our family who were taught different things and they were raised differently. This is what makes each individual unique from everyone else.
Traveling to other countries or even going outside our home town will help us get a better feel for the “real world”. From my experience with friends who have traveled to other countries, they have said it was an amazing experience and that have learned so much about different cultures. People think, act, and feel differently wherever you go. The more places you travel, the more you will be exposed to different cultures and how they act towards society.
Religion also plays a major role of how we behave towards society. The bible says many things in life that we should and should not do. People follow these rules, wanting to live the best life they can and make their way into heaven when they pass over.

Is the influence of family eroding? (cited resources, personal examples, culture of origin as basis for discussion)
When it comes down to how much our family influences us as the years go by and if it is eroding from our cultures or not depends on each individual family. In some families, parents never really cared for their children and they grew up not knowing much about the outside world. In these cases, people can become “crazy” when they get older, and some individuals can become dangerous to society. I believe that a lot of serial killers, thieves, murderers, and other bad people come from the lack of family exposure when they were being raised as a child.
In my case, I grew up with a strong and helpful family that was always there for me. I did get into a lot of fights with my siblings, but now that I am at college and beginning my own life, I realize how much I really care and love them. Thinking back on my childhood, I was raised a good life and my parents told me to be the best person I could possibly be. They showed me how to pursue a good work ethic, and how to treat others the way I want to be treated. My family was what made me who I am today.

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