Focus On Family 

In this article, parent Rachel Thom talks about two television documentaries which struck a chord:

Recently I watched two different television programs with a focus on family.  The first program looked at how family eating patterns are changing, and how this is impacting on modern society. Until relatively recently, most families sat at the table for evening meals together, without distractions. However busy individual members were during the day, dinner was a chance for the family to come together and communicate.
 
Nowadays, it’s very different. A number of families were interviewed for the program, and the majority of them only shared mealtimes two or three times a week, or more if you included eating in cars after visiting the nearest drive-through. The rest of the time, the family members ate when and where it suited, often with individual meals. Even when the same food was on offer to everyone, many family members ate their portion in different parts of the house. The families featured weren’t unusual; this style of eating is prevalent in our country.
 
The problem with all this is that it doesn’t allow, within a household, for focus on family. The family members are almost living independently of each other, and communication and support weakens as a result. The program suggested that families should make the effort to sit down to a meal together at least once a day. It can help with practical skills such as table manners, but more importantly, if gives a family the chance to communicate. Parents, children and siblings can find out about each others lives and thoughts. That’s got to be a good thing for any family.

The second television program I watched that had a focus on family involved finance. A great many families are heavily in debt because of loans, credit cards and mortgages. It’s a constant struggle for many to stay afloat between paychecks. To cover expenses, often both parents have to work, and some even have to take second jobs. Debt and overwork cause much stress and worry, and of course the focus on family, where communication and help should be an everyday occurrence, often takes a back seat. Often parents are so stressed and tired they don’t want to spend time with their children and so allow them to spend hours in front of a screen playing games or watching television – I’ve been guilty many times of doing that. And, because of a general lack of communication, often the focus on family is only in times of trouble.  Although a complex problem, the program offered a kind of solution by encouraging people to get good debt advice and so start to get their finances under control. 

In today’s society, there isn’t a simple solution on how we can fully address the lack of focus on family. We need to try, though, even if it’s only simple steps. If we continue to live our own lives independent of our family, then we lose some of our strength.