Eternally Family

Divorce is prevalent. It is a fact in this world. I wish it weren’t but the fact is that it happens a lot. Most of the time it is unnecessary. Sometimes it is necessary. The point is that it is a reality that there will be blended families. Those can be really hard. What is a blended family? An untraditional or blended family includes anything that is not the traditional biological mother, father, and children in the household. That includes step siblings and step parents. That also can include adopted children. Basically when there is a loss or an addition, most typically caused by divorce and remarriage, the family dynamic changes and adjustments have to be made which can be really difficult. I want to focus on the blended family. This means what is left after parents divorce and one parent gets remarried. It can be very difficult if it isn’t done correctly. There are a few suggestions that were made to me by a family therapist professional I was talking to recently. He said that th...

“Come here, Attack, I need to clip your fingernails.” My dad used to call me “Attack,” short for “Jack-Attack.” I thought it was so great. I remember my dad clipping my fingernails a lot when I was little. He would always say, “Whew! We need to clip your fingernails, girl!” It was a good time to talk together too. That seems like a silly memory, but it applies to the topic I will discuss today, and I’ll tell you why. Contact. There are many different ways of contact. There is making contact with someone else physically, whether that be a hug, a kiss, or a friendly pat on the shoulder. Another contact is through conversation, making contact with someone’s heart. When people are vulnerable and open up to each other in conversation they make contact with each others’ hearts. Whatever form of contact we are talking about, it means more to others than people think, especially children. Here is where my story ties in. Children need positive physical contact so much more than we realize. Som...

I want to take a minute to talk about fathers. All about fathers. It is applicable because of recent events in politics. It is also applicable because it was recently Father’s Day. This topic makes me sad. It makes me sad because of the push against the traditional family. This includes a mother, a father, and children. A lot of people, in recent times, have decided that fathers are not necessary in the home. There is a push for the idea that women do not need men. The push seems to continue to include children. This is false. If you simply research different studies, you can instantly find statistics that prove this wrong. This includes that many, if not most of the people in prison came from a home with no father. You will find that there is a ginormous increase in the rates of suicide and drug use when there is no father in the home. This is simply scratching the surface. To find studies on this topic, you can go to fatherhood.gov. You can also go to fatherhood.org. Specifically, f...