My Family as a Whole

I perceive my family as a strong and close family. I can say that my parents are the kind that is very protective and sometimes they become too overprotective that we lose some of our freedom but in return get more time to do things with our family since we cannot go out with our friends. My siblings on the other hand, I can say that sometimes they get a feeling of unfairness since they cannot go out with their friends while other people in their batch can go out with there friends. I believe that this is the case since they havent fully grasped the reason for them not being allowed to do these things. The topics I chose for the dialogue were: Generation gap, Familys views on the choice of friends and romantic relationships, Discipline in the family, Importance of family traditions, and the concept of privacy and private property. I chose these topics specifically because I feel that these topics are those that have the most complications in them which sometimes either need fixing or just minor clarifications. My dialogue went better than I expected. My parents were more or less open to the conversation topics since the topics werent that sensitive. When I asked my parents about the generation gaps between them and me, they said its normal and sometimes its hard or they find it hard to understand our views because they are basing there judgments on how it was done back in the 1970s and 80s. afterwards I told them about the use of the computers, they began with telling me that back then they didnt have anything like a computer until the 1990s so when they did research works, they had to look for the information through encyclopedias and type it down manually using typewriters. They also told me about how they feel that teachers of this generation are much too dependent or depending on the use of the internet for posting home works, projects and other activities. When I asked my parents about how they felt about my group of friends, how I chose my friends and about romantic relationships, they told me that for as long as we do not do anything that is forbidden and I do not have friends that are of bad influence, they dont mind my friends.

But as for being in a romantic relationship, they told me that I am in no position to be in any form of a romantic relationship since I am too young, still immature and not yet earning money for myself plus I am only to have a girlfriend when I am ready to be married and no time before that. Also when I reached to talking to them about the concept of privacy and private property, they told me that within the family, whatever is of one is also of the other. In turn meant that we really dont own something only for ourselves and we cannot be selfish in terms of what we own to ourselves. This way we learn to be more selfless and be kinder to our siblings and other people. Afterwards, I proceeded to talk to them about our traditions. When I talked to them about these things, the first they told me was respect. No matter how annoying or whatever the reason, I will need to respect my elders since without question. They also told me that by the time I will be getting married, they would want me to marry a person of Chinese blood. And other minor traditions but the one stated above are the main priorities that they would want me to follow. As for the last topic, my parents said that they would prefer that if would not be discussed. The two things that struck me the most in this dialogue with my parents were how they would treat things at home. The second would be how they are completely strict with the Chinese traditions. One similarity between the family interview and the CLE lessons I had was that the family is the and should be the strongest and most fundamental unit of society. But the main difference between my family and the lessons in CLE would be how we view traditions such as marriage, education and discipline. My views on the family as the fundamental unit of any strong and sustaining society has been strengthen based on the standards that my parents have further opened up for me. I would be more open to suggestions on how to better improve my capabilities as an older brother so that my younger siblings may learn properly the lessons my parents are trying to teach them. Secondly, I would take my responsibilities more seriously and make sure I do them properly so that my younger siblings may learn from the examples I show to them. Lastly, I will

be a kinder and more gentle brother to them so that they may also set examples to others and they will also be more inclined to follow a kinder person than a person they are forced to follow. I would suggest to my family more bonding and recreational time together and with no one else so that the bonds between everyone within the family would grow stronger and then the changes would be more readily accepted. Plus I would also suggest that the family have more open dialogues with each other, this would open the door to the children being more comfortable talking about their problems with people they know they can trust. Dearest Lord, With our mother Mary, Jesus your son and Joseph his father on earth, I ask for your unwavering guidance and support as me and my family as we go on with our lives, may we be able to properly teach our younger siblings the importance of the familys bonds and trust to one another. Inspire us Lord, to do our very best all the time, so that we may effectively teach our younger ones the real and true moral rights and wrongs. So that when they are much older, they will be better equipped for the life ahead of them. Also I promise to do my very best in keeping my word to help my family even more, but I need your guidance Lord to be able to fully do this.