Family Relations: SOCIAL CLASS & CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Here is a question to ask yourself, do you think the way you were raised and the traditions you have affected or influenced you while growing up? When we look at the people around us do, we pre-judge them with how they act and how they do things in their families?

                I will admit, I have pre-judged people before, and I realize I shouldn’t have. At first impression, I look at how others dress and the way they act. We all come from different social classes whether we were raised in a low class, middle class, or higher class. When parents give their kids what they want there is not only a lack of hard work but a lack of appreciation. True, we all come from different social classes, but that could change in their future. As I did my study, I was watching a couple of videos on different social classes. The first video was about a mom (no dad was in the video) was of a mom named Tammy who grew up poor and came from a family of about 22 kids. She mentioned how she was proud of her dad for his hard work and knew her dad would be proud of her for doing the same for her 2 boys. She walked to burger king 10.5 miles every day due to her car not working. She didn’t have a furnace, wore the same clothes every day, their yard was a mess, and she was living in a trailer. She was also hoping to one day go to school to become a teacher. About 13 years later, there was a follow-up video done, to find out if she accomplished her goal. Tammy now lives closer to work and walks 20 minutes, she lives in a small house and was wearing her work uniform every day.  

                The other videos were of people one would say is high class. They had plenty of money, were in the “right groups”, and family name or family title. Some families mentioned were “the family” while others are one might call Nuvo (up and coming name). From observation not only were their mannerisms different but also their conversations, who they hung out with. In another video, a mother and daughter were driving around the Hamptons and in conversation mentioning which parts were “sketchy” where one should not move. While there are some places a family might not be as safe, there are some situations where there is a choice.

                What comes to mind when you think of cultural diversity? I think of different countries and how they live and what they do. I didn’t realize that the traditions we have been raised with, are also a part of our cultural diversity. Some of the traditions my family has are getting together on holidays, for birthdays we celebrate the family member all day, and doing our daily prayer, scriptures, and church. Each of us has our own family traditions, but what if they changed? My husband and I got married back in April of last year and together now from previous marriages we have 4 boys. We are bringing in our cultural diversity together by keeping our family traditions and creating new ones of our own. We do our prayers, scriptures, take our boys bowling, glow golf, sledding, and coming up with ways to spend more time with them. We have learned from experience that it isn’t easy, but from life and personal study, our time here isn’t meant to be easy. We love what we are creating and like other families working hard and always learning how to help make things better for our family.