Family and Relationships

FAMILY LIFE, FRIENDS, RELATIONSHIPS

Family, friends and other relationships are one of the most important parts in our life. As children, we usually grow up in a nuclear family, which means parents and children living together. But especially today, we can see many types of families—for example a single-parent family, blended family with step-parents and step-siblings, or couples who decided not to have children. The family should primarily be about having a place where you belong, about close relationships, communication and togetherness.

But when it's not the way it should be, we have some alternatives. I would like to talk about alternative care. Some children cannot grow up in their biological families (if the parents might be unable to care for the child, they may have huge financial problems, or the child can be removed from their parents' care for some reason), so they live in foster families, they get adopted or they stay in children's homes. Foster care usually provides the "home environment" until the child can return home, while adoption gives them a permanent family. It's amazing when it fits and the children can have a loving "step-family", even when they do not grow up in the biological ones.

When it comes to friends, I think real friendships should be based on honesty, trust and respect, and at best we should like to spend some time together. We can meet friends in different places and situations, and I think it plays a big role in what the friendship is like and what experiences you have bounded with it. You can find friends among your classmates, we can share a hobby or it can just be a daughter or son of our parent's friend. With good friends we can share some experiences, have fun together or just be and talk to each other.

And relationships are not only about family and friends. We can also include the neighbours, classmates or colleagues, relationships with teachers and other people we have met and can influence us in some way—even in the everyday small interactions.

Of course, many of the relationships can sometimes be complicated, because people change, and the main key is communication. And also not every relationship lasts forever—your priorities may change and it can cause problems, or you just don't have the chance to meet the person any more.

At this time, relationships can be influenced a lot by modern technology thanks to social media. Because of social media, it's so much easier to stay in touch even with people who live far away, but at the same time it can cause misunderstandings, uncertainty, or fake expectations. Sometimes in today's world we can see the lack of face-to-face contact, because sometimes it can be easier to "hide" behind the messages. I also love to write letters—for me it's also a really personal way to communicate with each other and I really appreciate when I get a letter from someone.

To sum up, our family, friends and other relationships play a huge role in our lives. They shape our personality, can support us and help us feel that we belong somewhere. Even though relationships can be difficult sometimes, they are worth at least trying to work on.