Situations

Situations that are unfavorable happens all the time. In the case of my family, I could maybe assumed that there is a systemic approach to them.

My parents would usually told us what's happening or will be going to happen, or rather nag about them ? What ever, they are being communicated to us and then me and my brother would usually give a suggestion or two. My parent would usually try to solve the problem by himself/herself using the best possible solution.

Would i say that is systematic ? At least the children are aware of the problems the family is facing at the point of time.

Power Relations

Power relations ? I guessed there is a mixed between commanding and discussing that my parents practice.

There are times when forcing have to be execute in order to get things done right, although I may hate that particular matter, it may very well just be the best choice for me. Examples are that parents would not give a choice to their children as to what time they wants to be in bed. My parents, especially my dad forces us on lots of things, but as i grew up the subject of matter slowly grew lesser and lesser as it may well already become a part of me.

On the other hand, discussion between parents and children before making a choice onto the child is as important too. Some matters just can't be forced onto the child or it may very well caused some negative impacts. Examples are that extra course or activities the child took up, the child should have the right to choose what they like to pick up and learn through them, forcing another undesired choice onto them make them sick of it as they have no interest in them at all.

My parents very well respects my decisions in most cases. They have also implant into me morale values and what I should and should not do through the practice of authoritarian parenting from young. Now I would follow those rules meant for me as a child even though i have already grow up, just because I was lead to follow the rules right when i was growing up as a kid.

Family Relationship and Age.

My relationship with my family have changed over the years as i inch closer and closer towards adulthood. I'm sure it happens to almost everyone.

It is not that the level of feeling or understanding towards them have lowered over the years. People tend to get less clinging towards parents the older the get, you don't visit places that you used to with your family anymore. I might in fact slowly confine more to my friends than to my family members the older I grew.

I would no longer rush towards and hug my dad when he came home from work like how I used to. It would be awkward to do that now wouldn't it ? I no longer hold on to my mum's hand when I goes shopping with her.

My relation with my brother sure does gets on the better side. How in the world would we ever fight again just because of toys ? As we matured, lots of things will change and will no longer be part of our life...

Conversations

Thinking about how conversations happened in my family, i realized there is no particular individual responsible for initiating them. Everyone does.

I would often go to my mother about matters of the heart that i cannot understand and solve myself. She would always give me the best advice she had on right on her mind then. She would also occasionally chat up with me on various topics such as daily matters, health and food.

Conversations between my dad and I comes natural especially on topics which we both have interest on. We would often talk about soccer whenever there's a match or transfer happening. He would also always talk to me about his job, what he was encountering during the day, the progress on his new job. I would always open up to him whenever I had a tiff with my mum.

Being the only sibling I have in the family, my brother will be, of course the one I talked to the most. We would always discuss stuffs that are happening in School or with our friends and things that we can't let our parents know. Being the junior, he would always have questions regarding his schoolwork which I could be of help.

Practice or Not ?

My family has always stressed the importance of self management and this post will be about money management.

My allowance was given in a batch of 1 week and i had to plan myself on what I should spend to keep that amount enough to last me a week. If I were to spend too much on a day, i would have to live on instant noodles for the rest of the days. I always had this habit of keeping an extra 10 dollars in my wallet in case of emergency as I was too young then to be carrying a ATM card.

To save up for items that I wanted, I don't rant or ask from my parents to get them. I would normally save at least 1 Dollar everyday so that when I saw something of interest, I would have the money to buy it. From that, I have come to understood the idea that money don't come easily and that small savings will accumulated to huge amount as time goes by.

What about breakfast ?

After posting about lunch and dinner, I realized that I have missed out the most important meal of the day, Breakfast.

We did not have any particular routine for breakfast. But I remember that Dad used to work through the night and would return just moments before i wake up for school. So he would always bought me and my brother breakfast.

One of the things he bought that I missed the most was fried dough and soy milk. It was the best combination for breakfast that I ever had. If I had a choice I would rather stuff myself everyday with them than having those tasteless plain breads spread with kaya, Nutella or peanut butters and a cup of hot Milo.

After having my wonderful breakfast, I would go to the void deck and meet my buddy who lives just above me and go to school together by bus.

Dinner

After talking about lunch in the previous post, I'll talk about the practices my family follow during dinner time.

Same as lunch, we had a bowl of soup right in the middle of the table again. This time around, at least 5 dishes of different food were to be found around it, all home cooked.

Televisions; computers or radios, all have to be turned off right before the clock strikes 7 and all members are expected to be gathering and sitting down around the table.

There was a unwritten rules in my family during meals that I have not mention during the previous post. All of us aren't supposed to speak while eating unless the matter is of utmost importance. Remembering how my dad reprimanded me once when i brought my friend home for dinner and chatting with him while eating, it was indeed embarrassing.

After dinner, most of us will be sitting in front of the television enjoying freshly cut fruits while watching the television.

The Past Practices

Looking back into the past, when my grandmother was still in this world, my family and I would always have lunch together around the huge table that was in my dining hall then in my old home.

The dishes were those of that I have missed ever since her departure.
We would always have a large bowl of home cooked soup with quite a number of spoons lying in the middle of the table, few different dishes that are either bought from the nearby coffee shop or home cooked.

Before we eat, we were required to address everyone around the table like "Dad, Eat; Mum; Eat" and so on, starting from the youngest to the eldest. We are also supposed to not have any kind of drinks on the table and the only thing that we should be drinking during lunch was the soup.

Just lunch alone has already shown a few different kinds of practices that are being followed by all the family members.