Tag Archives: family culture

Are We a “Functional” Family?

When I was growing up, the big talk in the pop psychology world was all about “dysfunctional” families. Everyone I know who is close to my age and even older is convinced that they came from a dysfunctional family. I don’t know why, but over the years my ideas around what is truly dysfunctional have been modified. As a single parent family, I think that many of worry that our single parent status will be the catalyst that sends our family into dysfunction—but are we REALLY a dysfunctional family? What does it take to be a functional one? In my … Continue reading →

The Good and Bad of “It Runs In The Family”

Heredity is a funny thing–and I am not just talking about genetic inheritance either–but all those quirks, personality traits, tendencies, and values that tend to run in families. It does not even have to be a biological relation. Each family has its own “culture”–just like a work environment, church, or community–and it can be interesting to look over both the good and the bad of what sort of things run in the family… One of my daughters said once that “divorce runs in my family”–with grandparents and great-grandparents and her own parents, she was right in noticing that she doesn’t … Continue reading →