You either love your family or you don’t know how to love them enough. It is humanly impossible to not love the people that were there for you during your most vulnerable times in life. Sure, there are edge-cases of less-than-favorable family conditions, but there’s still love there to be found.
I won’t be able to cover the very difficult or traumatizing family events (though I do believe we’ve all had our own versions happen during the growing up phases). Instead, I’d like top focus on a tone of great examples (good and bad) of how regular folks have grown in their family lives.
Below are some of the better, more enlightening, or more entertaining answers that came out of this question and answer session. Users requested remaining anonymous and I’ll honor that request. The answers are raw, genuine, and I did my best to leave them as they were supplied, though I try to clean up any bad or hateful language.
Let’s dive right on in and see what normal, everyday folks think about this important topic in life.
Question
What is the most important life lesson you’ve ever learned about family?
Answers
- To be a part of a family that loves and accepts you is more valuable than silver or gold. I know this sounds corny, but it is true. I have worked with broken families. Children that have a family to belong to and feel accepted and loved tend to be more loving and successful. To open our home to others that have no family. To help them be a part of something they have lacked. To help them feel accepted and loved.
- A family that prays together stays together. A family is knit by love. A prosperous family eats together
- Family is the most important piece of the puzzle of life. My family is near and dear to me. We might fight and yell but it’s all out of love. It’s human nature. Family is always there when no one else is and they are vital to someone’s happiness.
- Family is essential to everyone’s life. It is important to never forget your family because they will always be there for you. I think that growing up, you don’t realize how important your family is until you leave for college and don’t get to see them on a regular basis. Once you start working, it is important to have a work life balance so that you get to spend time with your family. You don’t want to end up alone, so it is important to always make family a priority.
- Family is one of the absolute easiest things to take for granted. They are quite possibly the only people that will ever be there for you through thick and thin. The older I get, the more I realize this and the more grateful I am for them. Perhaps most importantly, family relationships need to be nurtured just like any other relationship. Showing a little bit of gratitude goes a really long way for someone.
- Family is very important to me. I have learned that I can always count on my family being there for me through the good times and the bad. Friends may come and go but Family is forever.
- Family is what you make of it. Your family can be a great asset to you in life. They are people who have ties to you no matter what. Often people get jobs through their family connections.
- Family should not be taken for granted. Family should always be valued and treasured. One never knows when they will be taken away from them.
- Family will always be there for you. They should always be first and spending time with them should take priority over just about everything. Family will forgive you and love you no matter what. I appreciate my family and value their love and trust so for that reason they are my life and always come first.
- Family will be there for you no matter what. You may enjoy being around your friends more day to day, but when it comes to needing people, your family is your number one supporter. It is important to make time for family, and enrich your relationships with family members.
- Family will normally be there for you when no one else is. A good family will take care of each others needs. Sometimes family members understand you better than other people.
- Growing up, I did not want to get married and have children, but now I know that my husband and my two daughters are my greatest blessings in life. Living in a family, with people to love and care for, to share your joys with, is wonderful. It can certainly be stressful sometimes, but it’s worth it.
- I never got along with my family. I learned to build an independent life away from my family. The stress that family situations caused was taking a toll on my health. Now I feel much happier and calmer. I also learned that other people can become your family, I befriended an elderly neighbor and she became like a mother to me. So you have to make family work for you by choosing what is in your best interests for health and happiness.
- I’ve learned that blood doesn’t always run thicker than water. Just because someone is related to you, it doesn’t mean that they’ll support you no matter what. Unfortunately that’s the reality especially in this day and age. A wise man once said that you may find a brother who was not born of the same mother (that’s not a joke – that’s actually a quote from Luqman the Wise.)
- I’ve learned to never, ever work for family. I spent the summer taking care of my grandparents — cleaning, driving them to appointments, helping them with their medications, etc. — and I was paid by my aunt, Leesa. While the grandparent’s situation has only gotten worse, Leesa has been living in a total bubble of ignorance.She thinks they’re getting better, which has led to slashing my hours and requests that I do less for them. If I was being employed by a non-family member, I’d simply quit or confront them with reality, but since it’s family I’m just supposed to accept it.
- Love your family. These are some of the most loyal people you may ever have. Try to make good relationships with them. Sometimes you can ‘do with them’ or ‘do without them’. They are still your family, they’re not going anywhere. If you have kids, it’s especially important to make sure that they know both sides of the family.On the other side of the coin, you might not have a loving family so make your friends your family or your co-workers. Sometimes we spend more time with co-workers anyway. You want support and love and acceptance, that’s what family is all about to me.
- Not all families are as nice and perfect on the outside. Those families can put up a good false front; in reality they are as dysfunctional as ever. So once again not all families are as cute and as cuddly as they seem.
- The life lesson I learned is family is unreliable. Family will always let you down. And though you may love them and vice versa, a lot of time you can expect more from strangers.
- The most important lesson I have learned about family is that the parents need to know when to let go. Parenting is said to be a lifelong venture but it is when the child reaches adulthood that the parents have to let go and allow the young adult to find his or her own way. It is said that the parents are known from their fruits.Therefore if parents perform the best job possible parenting, if a child falls short on his or her journey to adulthood; they will know where to seek advice. The family is the cornerstone for adulthood and parents should know when to let go and let the child grow up satisfied that they have done the best job possible even with the intervention of peer pressure.
- The most important thing I learned about family is that sometimes they will take more than they are willing to give. Some family will totally take advantage of you. They are usually the people who mistreat you and will be quick to backstab you.
- There is nobody like your family. You will have troubles and go through times but when it comes down to it, they are what you have. Family takes care of family because of unconditional love……..usually anyway. When somebody, for example, goes to prison, who are the ones who come see them? Your friends will disappear and fade away, but family is forever.
- They need your time more than anything. Stuff comes and goes. But the time together is what lasts a lifetime. It also creates memories.
- To cherish every moment spent together, and to fill those moments with laughter and joy. Every moment is a gift, and it is important to spend that precious time with family (whether blood related or family by emotional connection). During the time spent together, loving one another, and taking care of each other is the key to staying close and making great memories; a sense of humor and forgiveness also helps! Above all, though, treasuring any time spent together is a wonderful way to build strong bonds of love, and will allow everyone to respect and appreciate one another’s time.
- What true love is. What commitment is and how to deal with it. Home, a real home full of love, honesty and faith.
- You can’t choose who your family is. Well, at least who you are related to by blood. It’s an amazing thing though how they will let you down and at times you’ll let them down too but they just don’t go away. They are always there. In your DNA, in your genetic make-up it’s like two ends of a magnet.Even if you’ve spent years spoiling a relationship with a sibling you just can’t help but to think about them maybe try to keep coming back to mend the relationship or just to pull another string, either way you just keep coming back and vice versa, it’s something special.
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I hope enjoyed this series of questions and answers on life lessons. Whether you found something directly applicable or you just found reading through the lives of others enlightening, I trust you got something valuable out of this article.
Please share your thoughts or your own lessons, ah-ha’s, or generally awesome wisdom below. We want to know what’s on your mind!