Model Family Essay

857 Words4 Pages
Worldly Views of the Picturesque Family What is the model family? I believe the definition of a model family depends on your culture. Culture can be defined as simply as the appreciation of good literature, music, art, and/or food. To others, culture may be defined as learned behaviors that are passed from our families. These ideas of the model family come from cultural myths. Gary Colombo, author of “Introduction: Thinking Critically, Challenging, Cultural Myths”, describes cultural myths as something that one believes to be true and is not fact. Cultural myths have a powerful effect on our thoughts and actions. Cultural myths can block our thinking. For example, when I was growing up, my family was the “model” family: a mom, a dad, and two kids. This is a cultural myth because our culture believes the “model” family consists of those things. To other cultures, such as Indians, having your extended family with you is part of their “model” family. Roger Jack, author of “An Indian Story”, describes his family life when he was growing up. When his mother died, he went to live with his Aunt Greta. For his culture, this was the model family. It is very difficult to overcome these cultural myths we have when analyzing the way others raise a family. The definition of a “model” family takes on many forms due to these myths. Cultural myths powerfully affect the choices we make in our lives. They give us different views on life. For example, they help us answer these questions: What should my career choice be? Should I marry or be single? They help us answer these questions because our answers lay within our families. Colombo states, “These myths help us understand our place in the world…” (3). Not only is he talking about career choice but he is also referring to all choices we make in life. This is true in Jack’s essay “…I wasn’t too sure about living on the reservation
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