Modern Families

Mrs. Blue

Mr. Red

Changing roles in fast times Most have grown up or have been led to think that a family consists of a dad, mom and kids. At the start of the day mom cooks breakfast, everybody sits down, then kids and the dad troop out to go to school and office.  Mom gives everyone a kiss, rosy cheeks and all.  I’ve got nothing against this norm; in fact, it’s what everybody’s been patterning their family into.  In our case, it isn’t ‘normal’ at all given that scenario.  I go to work, as in wake up and do the whole 9-hour shift and at very odd hours; so you can throw the cheeky breakfast out too.  My dear Mr. Red takes care of the kid, does the household chores, runs the errands but plays the PS3 instead of watching soap operas.  Mr. R gets projects via work at home jobs until he gets a steady employer.  It’s been the set up ever since our little girl came; not that we planned it.  Just like everything else we were thrown into it. I know of some other families with different arrangements – kids staying with second of kin, single parents, mixed marriages, interracial, long distance family relationships, extended families, etc.  Yet we cope as a basic unit.  It’s still family and in the end it’s our home.  Doesn’t matter if it’s a dozen or just a tandem – you will find your heart with family.  It is true when they say that you get to choose your friends but not your family; I believe there is a good reason for that.  In the sum of things, who you are – whether you would admit to it or not, the most influential people is your kin.  It is your first intimate encounter with relationships.  With that, I am hoping to find you in a “normal” relationship with your own family.

Families – at home, at work and online As Mrs. Blue has intimated, the structure of the modern family is far more complicated today than the traditional model. Families who own and operate their own businesses are not rare.  Since the dawn of time, fathers have been known to pass down to their sons and daughters their skills and trade.  But since the advent of the industrial age all the way to our modern informational, digital age, there have been great changes.  Sure, there are still those who want to pass on their skills and trades to their children; like doctors encouraging their daughters to become doctors themselves; lawyer parents trying to inspire a son to become a well-known and well-respected lawyer, etc.  There are also those who own good businesses that have survived through the generations and will undoubtedly continue to do so. But what I find very interesting is a family working as employees for one company.  I’ve heard that there is a family, composed of a father, mother, sons and daughters who work for this one particular corporation.  Wow!  Imagine seeing them happily eating their lunch at the cafeteria!  It’s just a wonderful to know that family unity and love can be seen at the workplace. The internet and social media sites also have changed the way family members interact with each other.  It’s just magnificent to see a mother commenting on a daughter’s picture from Brazil, a son’s video from Japan, all posted on Facebook.  They’re not together, and yet not really apart. Families.  There indeed have been changes through the years, yet the love within stays the same.