Family Culture!

 Culture is probably the most important aspect of family systems. It seems to shape the thinking, actions, perspectives of different family systems. There is an evident difference between each family culture because of different life perspectives and past experiences that influence parents to shape their own unique cultures for the benefit of their children. It is also evident that most crafted family cultures intend to make the family a place of growth, where children`s decisions are shaped by the principles embedded in the culture. These unique cultures seem to change slightly or greatly when they are exposed to each other. Amongst them, there are more dominant cultures especially those of the western world that seems to have a huge influence on the other cultures. Studies have shown that immigrants that move from different parts of 3rd world countries to western world countries experience a natural culture shift and alteration because of the dominant influence of the new culture. Sometimes the shift is by choice not naturally because the families want to fit in and feel a sense of belonging in the existing culture that is admirable in their eyes. The shift, for the most part, is evident in young adolescents that immigrated at a very young age because the original culture they grew up in would not have been deeply ingrained in their way of living by the time of the move. This in turn affects the family culture because of the conflicting culture between the old culture that is deeply ingrained in the parents and the new dominant culture rapidly shaping the behavior of the young generation in the family.  On the other hand, there are situations where families separate and one of the parents emigrate to a western world county to pave a way for the rest of the family to come join. This can be for different reasons that range from financial to creating opportunities for the children. When these circumstances happen and the family is split, there is always a change in family roles and most of the times mothers who remain with the kids whilst the father away take both roles of being a father and a mother to the kids. They try to find a balance between working to support the family at the same time being nurtured and a homemaker. This can have negative effects on both the couple and the children in the sense that the children might have a stronger relationship with the mother and gradually erase the father from the picture. The children might end up resenting the absent father and view him as an unresponsible parent. These feelings of resentment might be fueled when the family reunites. Often times the children might find it hard to connect with the father who would have been absent for a while and the mother might even find it hard to connect with her husband thus causing a huge strain in their relationship and often times lead to family disintegration. The children are often times affected the most by the change of environment and culture because they might find it hard to adjust to the new culture and often might struggle with social exclusion and feel like they will never fit in. This social exclusion and isolation create a constant internal battle in the children of defining who they are and the culture they should belong to. Often times they resort to illegal activities to be noticed and join gangs to feel a sense of belonging. Looking at a bigger picture and expanding perspective, it is important for people from different backgrounds and cultures to find pluck or borrow the good in every culture, thus we create this dynamic culture filled with different perspectives. If people do this, they help their cultures filter the bad principles and replace them with the good borrowed from other cultures.