I spent today doing research for my book. This mostly started from working on some of the tasks in “Ready. Set. Novel!” but I’ve since realized it is a necessity for me. My favorite part of writing is digging in and getting the details. It’s not enough for me to have a character respond in a certain way, I want to be able to define why he or she reacted that way.
Here are some of the things I came up with in my research of families across the globe:
- The “Universal Family” looks different everywhere around the world
- Think “Modern Family” exemplified
- Teaching independence is the number one goal of parenting, no matter where you’re from
- Americans are more likely to have less positive relationships with their families
- This has a lot to do with the fact that we’re a melting pot of cultures, and the way each culture addresses family is different – thus leading to differences of opinion and difficulties
- American parents are more concerned with their children’s success and intelligence than parents across the globe
- We equate money with smarts
- Culture plays a significant role in dictating what family relationships look like
- Adult children from countries without federally-funded elder care are more likely to feel responsible for their aging parents well-being
- This often leads to tension on the relationships between adult children and their parents
Some of this may not be surprising, but I find it informative to our day-to-day interactions. I can definitely see how these different points not only dictate my interactions with my family, but also my future plans of starting a family of my own.
Tomorrow, I look forward to learning more about how we decide which friends are acceptable to introduce into our family, and why sometimes those ending relationships hurt more than anything else.
beesophia 