03-03-2015_19-00-49 / FAMILY LIFE text

FAMILY LIFE

The first thing you will probably want to know is where I was born and what my childhood was like. Also how my parents were occupied and all before they had me and my younger twin-brothers and all that kind of a story. But I don’t feel like going into it. I just find it sort of boring.

What really interests me is the notion of a’’generation gap’’, a question ala mode* nowadays.

You will hardly find a boy or a girl satisfied with their parents.

Neither will you find a grown-up, a parent not grumbling over the ‘’younger generation’ or their children. It seems that there’s complete misunderstanding in the families where parents don’t understand their children and where children don’t understand their parents.

Then, maybe, our family is an ideal one? Oh, no! We are not the museum relics that are to be stared at and be pointed to. Not in the least! I suppose that parents and children being good friends should become a norm for every family.

We are a large family. As you have already understood, I am not an only child. I have two brothers who are identical twins and even our parents are not always sure who Peter is and who Martin is.You know we have practically no problems with understanding each other in our family. We see our parents as our friends and so do they.They are easy to get on with and we would always come to them first if we had any serious problems to be solved. Surely, we are not a family of ever-satisfied idiots. We do have some arguments, there are even long debates sometimes and from time to time we cannot come to agreement.But it is only natural, isn’t it? It would be rather odd if everybody in the family always agreed with each other, shared all interests, were satisfied with everything and never quarreled. That would be sort of dull, I believe.

We share some interests with our parents and have practically the same tastes in books. But it takes our parents quite a while to get used to the new pop music we listen to some ultra-modern clothes my brothers sometimes put on. But they never forbid us to have our own way, they give us freedom. It doesn’t mean that we can do every stupid thing and they ignore it.But, on the other hand, we can take some decisions on our own. Surely, before taking the final decision we should consult our parents. And , I admit, this suits everybody in the family. In case they disagree with anything we want or decide they try to explain to us why this or that is impossible. And to tell you the truth, we always have to agree that they are right.They never forbade us to have a pet, for example, but when we were too small to take care of it, they gave us to understand that they had no time do it and we decided to wait until we grew up a bit. Some time later we took a dog that is now a member of the family. It was our decision, and our parents didn’t prevent us from having a pet. But they insisted that if we took it , then we were to walk it, to feed it , and take care of it.

Maybe the ‘’generation gap’’ exists in one-child families, since at first parents pay too much attention to every wish of an only child, giving the baby everything he wants, thus spoiling the baby. And when’’the product’’of their love-the growing-up child is no more’’a little sweetie’’, the parents come to understand that he has become an awful egoistic monster who never cares about anybody but him-or herself. Such a situation is not too frequent in families with two or more children, I believe. That is due to the fact that parents usually share their love with all their children, and every child in such a family understands that he or she is not the hub of the universe.They are used to taking care of each other since their childhood and they learn to live in a’’ community’’where every member is equal. So, to my mind , the atmosphere in such families is much healthier.The point is arguable, I know, and I don’t

pretend to be an authority on the subject. Anyway ,that is how I feel about it.

*ala mode (Fr.)-modern, up-to date