Family Values

A question was raised recently that I thought was rather interesting. What were your family values when you were growing up? That's not referring to what you think is important or the moral code you live by. It means the key things that were emphasized on a regular basis, that were backed up in both word and action, those things that defined your family.

As it happens, some of these family values may not be positive things. Or, your family might have preached some things that you straight up disagree with now. Even so, what were the central themes of your family life when you were a kid? Or you for your immediate family now?

I was trying to think of how I would answer that for my family. There's a lot of great things, and some not so great things, that I picked up along the way. Let me list the biggest things that I can see...

1. Family Time
Every Sunday Night we used to have movie night back in Wawa. That was always great. Throw in board games, Jays baseball when we were really young, road trips to Florida... Yeah, family night was always a regular feature and it was always required for both of my parents and we three kids. Good times.

2. Church
Personal faith in God, sure. However, the real focus was on church and lots of it. Every week, multiple times a week, for extended periods of time, for as long as I can remember. Early to arrive, late to leave. Usually last to leave, actually, whether that was here in London or back in Wawa or back in Peterborough or back in Thorold before that. We're talking decades of regular and frequent attendance, involved in everything from Sunday school to youth to music to sports stuff. I enjoyed it all along but these days... Let's just say that hindsight makes me question how useful it all was.

3. Big Decisions Are Easy
My family has made several major moves to new cities over the years. Parts of my family have even moved to new countries in recent times. My parents have changed careers drastically a few times, we have changed churches, we've all gone to school, etc. Sometimes these decisions took a while to consider and finalize, and they often came at a steep cost. However, I tend to look at how easily these decisions kicked in so many times. (Granted, part of this perspective is probably due to my childhood naivete.) From the initial start of it all when my parents got engaged after only dating for four weeks, to my parents ditching Canada to teach in Korea after thinking about it for all of a month. Big decisions are easy.

That's my initial list. Anyone else want to offer something about your own families?