Introduction to Family

By family we mean the parents and children. Originally it meant the mother and children till they were weaned away. These are days when the extended joint family is non-existent in the West and family goes back to the mother and the child till he is weaned away. Still, the family

• is a sociological fact that cannot be ignored,
• is a biological reality that cannot be abolished.

It has grown to be a joint family of 45, reduced to a nuclear family of 5 or 3 and now can be seen even as 2, a parent and a child. Our issues are what the family was in the past, what it is now, whether it has a future.

It is true the role family played so far was crucial and there is no other agency to replace it. It is equally true that a family cannot educate a child which a school does. Neither the family, nor the school can ever give him the experience SOCIETY gives. Further, there is an arena whose teachings cannot be had from family, school, company or society. It is one's own inner life that shapes him as an Individual.

• The Individual is emerging into his own NOW.

It is in this light we have to evaluate the role of family either in the East or West.

• Basic rules are:

- Family that is crucial and essential is only a passing phase in the evolving society, as marriage is.

- Wherever family has still a role to play, it will remain.It will disappear from places which have outgrown its need.

-Values that can be taught can be taught only by the family.

- Values that are to be self acquired can only be acquired by oneself.

- Discipline can be given by the school.

- Society can teach caution negatively.

- Society reveals to a man the basic human possibilities.

- Family unveils the dark recesses of human nature.

- Affection is fostered in the family.

- Manners are cultivated in the school.

- Personality is shaped by the external society.

- Spiritual openings are found INSIDE.

• In societies where education is widespread and Mind is formed, family will be on the way out.
• Emotional, vital societies will benefit by the family as it fosters the bondage between members.

That nation which grows into a FAMILY in its collective emotion either basing itself on the unit of the family or by dissolving it, will help create the next human goal of human unity and world government.