Little Things about Family

Kakuna Matata

Kakuna Matata

eema my beloved
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Who hasn’t heard the saying “blood is thicker than water” at least once in their life? Whether you like them or not, you can’t choose who you’re biologically related to. Sometimes they bring you grief, and others, they bring you joy and laughter. And still others, they bring you a mix of things that are very hard to define.

For some, there is no biological relation between themselves and those that make up their families. Even with the lack of blood ties, the bonds shared between these people, brought on by marriage or adoption, can be just as strong, if not more so in some cases.

In this thread you can freely talk about family, be they parents, siblings, children, or more distant relations. You can chat about your experiences with your family, what you like about them, what you dislike about them, family traditions, etc. Feel free to ask for advice concerning experiences or problems that may have taken place in your family.

Conversations do not necessarily need to follow one, solid topic; anyone can bring up a new event relating to his/her experiences with his/her family at any time.

RULES
1. Keep the discussions related to your own family or the families of other members.
  • A moderator may give a public warning if he/she finds that the discussion has become off-topic per the thread rules. This is a sign that the current discussion needs to be stopped. Ignoring this can lead to warnings/infractions.

2. Sometimes it helps to vent. Feel free to express your emotions/feelings, but please keep it at a level that won’t make your fellow members uncomfortable.​
3. Debating with someone about their views and stances on family is okay, but do not attack the person directly. We are all unique individuals. As such, no one person will have the exact same experiences as another. Please keep this in mind and be respectful of your fellow members when posting here.​
4. When asking for advice, remember that the advice given is not a full guarantee. Again, we are all unique individuals. What works for one may not work for another. Use your best judgment when considering the advice that has been provided.​
 
I love my family. It is full of contradictions.
My father is the strict, traditional Japanese man. While my mother is the outgoing, modern French woman.
Growing up with my father is like everyday boot camp. He gets upset over the littlest things like when we slouch while eating.
But my mother makes jokes out of it. When my father scolds us, my mother is always there to defend us.
 
I like my family, they are good people and I don't get bored.
 
Today was yet another day I was thankful for having brothers. Yet again one has gotten me out of being the one to do that yard work.
cityvillain said:
I love my family. It is full of contradictions.
My father is the strict, traditional Japanese man. While my mother is the outgoing, modern French woman.
Growing up with my father is like everyday boot camp. He gets upset over the littlest things like when we slouch while eating.
But my mother makes jokes out of it. When my father scolds us, my mother is always there to defend us.
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Sounds like they balance each other out nicely. xD

Judas Priest said:
I like my family, they are good people and I don't get bored.
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Did you mention that you work with your dad in construction before, or did I imagine that?
 
I think my family is pretty amazing. We often have family meeting, especially now that my brother is a father, so we can all see his daughter pretty often. There's literally no drama, everyone gets along perfectly with each other and there's an awesome ambiance when everyone is there.

There is that cousin I wish I wasn't related to, though, but I think it's a good price to pay to have a family like this one.
 
I have a huge, complicated family, and it's full of plenty of drama, which is not a good thing. :I My dad has been around in his days and has multiple children, all from different women. On top of that, I had never met my biological mother until a few months ago, and I have younger siblings from her side, too. (I'm the oldest.) I was adopted by my grandmother when I was a baby, which means that legally my dad is my brother and my grandmother is my mother, and it's just crazy. Most of them don't talk to one another anymore because of something that happened somewhere down the line.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the glue that holds all this insanity together. I never grew up with a cohesive family unit, so I always make a conscious effort to bring the members of my family together whenever I can... because if I didn't, I feel like they would all just drift apart again. I don't like the concept of being related to a bunch of strangers.
 
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I love my family, and I enjoy everyday I'm living with them. But I wish they would stop scaring me about how I have to live on my own someday.
 
Most of the time, I love my family. I said most of the time. In that other percentage, it's full of dysfunction and drama.

First there's my sister, Reshizek. We have a typical brother-sister relationship. We fight a lot, but nothing too bad, the majority of the time we get along. Basically like twins. Yeah, we always tease each other, but in a fun way.

Then there's my dad. My dad is the nicer one out of my parents, scolding my sister and I if needed, but usually very fun to be around. Unfortunately, whenever there's a clash, he always sides with my mom or my sister, because my mom is older and my sister's younger. But, I have yet to clash head-on with him.

Then we have my mom. She's the one that scolds everyone. She's constantly yelling at all of us, whether it about my incompetence with computers, my dad's "bigmouth" style, or my sister's messiness, it can be pretty frustrating sometimes. But what really annoys me is that, while she is the driving force in the family, she now thinks that she owns our souls. If we ever clash, she never lets me say my side of the story, claiming she's the better one and I'm just a stupid kid. That leads to a huge imbalance in power. It doesn't matter HOW good our debate points are, she always kicks them aside and simply keeps yelling. Usually she cools off later, but sometimes it goes farther, with her even threatening to sabotage my getting to school on time by not waking me up, refusing to drive me anywhere, and even threatening to notify the principal about the "stuff" I did, in order to make my school life awful. It's really frustrating, and I can never get her to listen to me.
 
Zenax said:
I think my family is pretty amazing. We often have family meeting, especially now that my brother is a father, so we can all see his daughter pretty often. There's literally no drama, everyone gets along perfectly with each other and there's an awesome ambiance when everyone is there.

There is that cousin I wish I wasn't related to, though, but I think it's a good price to pay to have a family like this one.
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Sounds like you lucked out being born into your family. :3 I didn't know you were an uncle already.

My parents keep hinting that they want grandkids to my brother and his wife, but for now they have to settle with grandpuppies.

Laterose said:
I have a huge, complicated family, and it's full of plenty of drama, which is not a good thing. :I My dad has been around in his days and has multiple children, all from different women. On top of that, I had never met my biological mother until a few months ago, and I have younger siblings from her side, too. (I'm the oldest.) I was adopted by my grandmother when I was a baby, which means that legally my dad is my brother and my grandmother is my mother, and it's just crazy. Most of them don't talk to one another anymore because of something that happened somewhere down the line.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the glue that holds all this insanity together. I never grew up with a cohesive family unit, so I always make a conscious effort to bring the members of my family together whenever I can... because if I didn't, I feel like they would all just drift apart again. I don't like the concept of being related to a bunch of strangers.
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Sounds like you've lead quite the interesting life. Maybe not the most enjoyable at times, but it seems like it would give you quite a few tales to tell.

No one else shares in the sentiment of having more family get togethers?

darkqueen said:
I love my family, and I enjoy everyday I'm living with them. But I wish they would stop scaring me about how I have to live on my own someday.
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Younger siblings calling dibs on your room?

TFSpock said:
Most of the time, I love my family. I said most of the time. In that other percentage, it's full of dysfunction and drama.

First there's my sister, Reshizek. We have a typical brother-sister relationship. We fight a lot, but nothing too bad, the majority of the time we get along. Basically like twins. Yeah, we always tease each other, but in a fun way.

Then there's my dad. My dad is the nicer one out of my parents, scolding my sister and I if needed, but usually very fun to be around. Unfortunately, whenever there's a clash, he always sides with my mom or my sister, because my mom is older and my sister's younger. But, I have yet to clash head-on with him.

Then we have my mom. She's the one that scolds everyone. She's constantly yelling at all of us, whether it about my incompetence with computers, my dad's "bigmouth" style, or my sister's messiness, it can be pretty frustrating sometimes. But what really annoys me is that, while she is the driving force in the family, she now thinks that she owns our souls. If we ever clash, she never lets me say my side of the story, claiming she's the better one and I'm just a stupid kid. That leads to a huge imbalance in power. It doesn't matter HOW good our debate points are, she always kicks them aside and simply keeps yelling. Usually she cools off later, but sometimes it goes farther, with her even threatening to sabotage my getting to school on time by not waking me up, refusing to drive me anywhere, and even threatening to notify the principal about the "stuff" I did, in order to make my school life awful. It's really frustrating, and I can never get her to listen to me.
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Your sister has a cool name. :eek:

Good thing you have your dad to balance your mom out. While waking up on your own probably wouldn't be too hard to accomplish without her, the other two threats go a bit too far, imho. What could she possibly have over your head to make your school life hell?
 
Not much, luckily. Although she never actually does the threats.
 
Kakuna Matata said:
Sounds like you lucked out being born into your family. :3 I didn't know you were an uncle already.

My parents keep hinting that they want grandkids to my brother and his wife, but for now they have to settle with grandpuppies.
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I did. :3 and I'm an uncle twice, actually. My older brother on my father's side had a son when I was about 10. I don't see them often, though, since they live in Ontario, but it doesn't bother me so much.

Are they planning on having kids? I think that's part of the reason my brother had his daughter, because my mom kept hinting that (although it was far from subtle), but I don't think he regrets it.
 
TFSpock said:
Not much, luckily. Although she never actually does the threats.
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That's good to hear. Still, seems a bit much to even threaten that sort of thing, imho. Have you talked to your dad about feeling frustrated when trying to communicate with her?

Zenax said:
I did. :3 and I'm an uncle twice, actually. My older brother on my father's side had a son when I was about 10. I don't see them often, though, since they live in Ontario, but it doesn't bother me so much.

Are they planning on having kids? I think that's part of the reason my brother had his daughter, because my mom kept hinting that (although it was far from subtle), but I don't think he regrets it.
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How many siblings do you have?

Not right now. They've been married for a year, but they don't want any kids just yet. They have their hands full with the dogs. xD
Plus they were planning on moving to Florida, but they couldn't sell their house this summer, so they're staying for at least another year. I don't think they want to have kids until they can make the move. Which made my mom sad because then she wouldn't get to see her grandkids even when they did have them. (Which admittedly does kinda suck, but on the bright side, we have a reason to go to Florida and a place to stay for free! Easier Disney World access along with possibly meeting up with a bff who moved down their a few months ago.)
 
Kakuna Matata said:
That's good to hear. Still, seems a bit much to even threaten that sort of thing, imho. Have you talked to your dad about feeling frustrated when trying to communicate with her?
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I tried, it didn't work, really. :/ She only threatens to do that stuff when I really piss her off somehow. Which is actually pretty rare, surprisingly. She usually just yells at me for a few seconds.
 
TFSpock said:
I tried, it didn't work, really. :/ She only threatens to do that stuff when I really piss her off somehow. Which is actually pretty rare, surprisingly. She usually just yells at me for a few seconds.
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Ah, I thought it was at the drop of a pin or the like. While yelling still isn't the best default response, there are worse ones. But then again it seems like she isn't angered to easily, so that's good for all the parties involved.
 
Kakuna Matata said:
How many siblings do you have?

Not right now. They've been married for a year, but they don't want any kids just yet. They have their hands full with the dogs. xD
Plus they were planning on moving to Florida, but they couldn't sell their house this summer, so they're staying for at least another year. I don't think they want to have kids until they can make the move. Which made my mom sad because then she wouldn't get to see her grandkids even when they did have them. (Which admittedly does kinda suck, but on the bright side, we have a reason to go to Florida and a place to stay for free! Easier Disney World access along with possibly meeting up with a bff who moved down their a few months ago.)
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No "real" siblings, only half. On my father's side, I have 2 older brothers who are something like 32 and 27, I lost count, and a sister who is around 23 years old. I don't see them a lot, but it doesn't bother me that much. On my mother's side, I have an older sister who is 25 and an older brother who is 22. Those two are part of my "close" family, because I see them a lot, and they're the one I get along with the best, too. It took some time to stop fighting with this brother, though. He's the one who just had a daughter.
Yeah, I'm really young compared to them.

It's pretty much the same situation that happened with my oldest brother. He waited until he could move to Ontario (it was because of his job, though), and he brought his girlfriend with him because they both work at the same place. Not long after, we learned that she was pregnant. Although I'd prefer living in Florida than in Ontario, with all the sun, the beaches and the orange juice. :3 It's a great place to start a family, in my opinion.
 
My family is ah, rather interesting to say the least.

While I was growing up, it was just my parents and myself. That was it. No siblings whatsoever. (Which becomes a bit tricky later on, but we'll get to that.) I got along with my dad and still do; he's pretty easygoing and has a very warped sense of humor which he passed to me. Some would say I'm a bit of a Daddy's girl and I'd agree. He and I get along famously.

Me and my mom? Eh, not so much.

Mom and I have never really gotten along. We've butted heads since I was very young and things haven't gotten much better between us. She was always very controlling and sometimes almost abusive. (When I was 14 she started cleaning out my room and things rapidly went south; it ended up with her nearly choking me. This is no lie.) Even worse, she kept me close, far too close and made a lot of decisions for me so I have a lot of trouble handling things now that I'm on my own. (Prime's trying to help me break that.) But what happened last November was a real killer. It brought a lot of her behaviors to light, but it also kinda scarred me.

The whole only child thing wasn't the truth. She had a baby, a boy, three years before I was born and gave him up for adoption. Apparently, he's contacted my mother and father. I have his address and could write to him but....

I can't do it. I can fill a slagging notebook with story ideas and not even blink but I can't write even a "hello" to my older brother without freezing up. I have no clue what to say to him, I don't know this man and I have no idea where to even begin. And I'm still slagged off at my mother. She, along with the rest of my family kept everything secret so I had no real clue that my brother existed. Instead, she laid everything at the feet of my brother and seemingly ducked responsibility. That's not fair to him. So yeah, angry is probably too light a word to use here.

Like I said, interesting. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go slam my head against a wall for a few minutes. BRB. :banghead:
 
I love my family!

It used to be me, my Mum, Dad,Grandma and two brothers. My Dad and Gran passed away a while ago so now it's just the four of us. I love my Mum so much. I can say anything to, tell her all my problems, I can even get angry and call her names and she will just laugh and let me off. She's devoted her life to her kids and it's so obvious how much she loves us all. My Dad was really overbearing, and kind of made my Mum's life a misery. I'm not sad to have lost him. In honesty I think all our lives would be pretty miserable if he was still around. I was very young when I lost my Grandma so I can't really say it effected me all that much. She wasn't a very loving person and she had my Mum wait on her like a queen when she was living with us.

I have two older brothers, one is three years older than me and the other is 15 years older. They can be pretty full on sometimes. They annoying me on so many levels, but I know that they love me. We're an extremely close-nit family. I have other relatives but we don't really mix with them. All the family on my Dad's side aren't very nice people and I'd prefer not to know them.
 
I love my family my dad is the best person in the world and my mom has lived in a nursing home since i was 7 years do to her MS i have 2 older brothers and 1 younger brother.
 
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