Introduction
The family get together refers to the gathering of family members to discuss crucial issues that pertain to the whole family in general. A family is a group people having a binding blood or other cultural defining relationship. It usually consists of father as the head of the family, mother, and children just like my family. My family members often come together to have general meetings in order to solve issues that arise in the family that may need the effort of the whole family. For my families organize concert parties to contribute school fees for a needy school-going child. The areas of discussion in the family gatherings may vary from one family to another butt some areas of concern are often common in many families depending on the lifestyles of the family members. Family members are important avenues for enhancing and encouraging the relationship and awareness among family members. In family gatherings, various groups of family members develop specific friendship among themselves depending on their cultural grouping. E.g., My two cousins of the same age are more close to each other than to the other family members.
My family gathering is of essence in relation to introducing new family members. New family members are always through marriages and birth. The women married are often introduced to the whole family for purpose of joining the family because the new members are needed in order to expand the family as well as playing new roles in the family. My family gathering is therefore crucial for this purpose of introducing new members into the family. In my family ceremonial gathering is usually made as homecoming for the new family members.
Family gatherings are also of great essence in discussing issues that are beyond the control of an individual family member. In my family members do gather to formulate solutions that face the family members. The issues pertaining to the progress of the children in their academics is an issue that needs consideration. The challenges facing these children are discussed so that they can be tackled by through the efforts of all family members.
Family gatherings are also grounds for discussing matters pertaining to the religious issues of the family so that their children are not misled. The issues pertaining to the religion are given more focus so that the children see the importance of their children that helps them in guiding their moral code of conduct. The tradition of the family is also given consideration so that the order in the family can be maintained because each family may have principles that guides them in their day-to-day life. It is quite often for family members to have one common faith, which shows that the issues of religion are prior to discussion at family level.
My family does gather at times to discuss about the nature of both the current and past neighborhood and environment so that people can cope up with changes that may arise. This therefore helps our family members to cope up with new surroundings.
At the gathering my family does discuss issues like drug addiction as well as divorce between family members but these topics may sound like taboos and usually the family does not discuss these issues in the presence of the children.
My family considers various activities as immoral and thus tabooed by the family. These are members engagement in gossips, on others children, family financial status and marital status of others e.g recent divorce cases. To my family this is very destructive to unity and hence harmony in the family. My family is built on unit as its core value. Drug addiction is cursed and tabooed as it portrays a bad picture of the family as in my family the failure of one member tarnishes not only the picture of the failure but also of the family. A family is always characterized are usually by existence of a family property and therefore illegal sell of family property is prohibited by the family canons and therefore considered a taboo. My family has three estates considered to be a family property.
Language can be used to give and reveal various aspects. There two main types of communication that is verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication is the used of speech or verbal words to deliver information. However, words can be communicated in used in a language to approach situations in various ways for instance it can be in a persuasive way such that the use of various words cannot spark any negative attitude towards others in reference. For instance we use words such as to mean what they do not imply in the literal meaning of the words in use (double speaking). For one to deduce the real meaning double spoke phrase he/she has to go into an investigative analysis. In speech one evening my father said “what cute babies with bright long hair!” by which he meant my uncle’s wife’s two children. The use of this phrase in speech is to distinctly differentiate the outsiders and my family members.
Other examples of double speaking phrases used in our family include, the use of the neighborhood to investigate the economic status of the various family members as the respondent who is asked the neighborhood he lives will answer in good faith and spirit thus giving the interviewer a lot of information. Also in probing on the economic and social status of an individual, we can ask a family member on where his or her children go for school. This will be used to ask on whether our family can afford the range top of school and thus determining his or her social class. This will help our father to cluster the family in the various social hierarchies. Generally, language can be used in exclusion and stereotyping as hidden meaning phrases, which lead to exclusion of the intended people from the communicated information.
The use of various specific words and there arrangement in speech can be used to spur some inference into the social identification and generation of opinions about various classifications of the community and family members for instance gender, ethnic groups and age groups.
Non-verbal communication is the use of body expressions and signs to communicate information. This involves nodding of head and side by side shaking to mean agreeing and disagreeing on a situation respectively this is commonly used by my young family members. Unit can be demonstrated by closure of family members thus our recognition as a family unit. Hand gestures can be used to communicate for instance inviting and dismissing people. Non-verbal communication mostly shows the relationship between people. Mostly the closeness between people as it is more of informal method of communication. Language communication and use is distinct to various cultural grouping as it is rare to find children arguing with the youth. My father usually engages in arguments with other elders in the family and rarely with us and my mother.
In general, the use of language in the family involves the use of vocabularies that show family values and the general way of life. Depending on age, there exist various levels of interaction between my family members. The old family (My mother and my father) members focus on the family ties while the youth my juniors focus on friendship advancement. It is also evident that women are more interactive and social than men since they seek to realize on the lifestyle of others. For instance, children will always make stories on playing while old argue on family issues. This explains the barrier between such classes of the family.
