Generations & Perspective on Family
Not long ago I had a conversation with a young man who had just completed law school. This young man shared with me that his ambition was the practice of family law.
In the course of our conversation, I discovered this young man had a much different outlook on family. Different from my outlook and different from my generation's outlook on family.
With a few questions, I discovered this man had no brothers or sisters. The young man had relationships with grandparents that were distant, at least distant from my perspective. After further questioning ,I discovered that aunts and uncles never played any significant role in this mans life. At least, they would not be considered significant roles from my perspective.
In my own life, on one side of the family, cousins were as close to me as brothers and sisters. In the young aspiring lawyer's life cousins were people he never met.
How many young men and women are bringing this type of perspective to professions that service families? How many young Accountants, Doctors , Lawyers, Financial Planners and other professionals will bring a shallow family experience to what they do? Shallow in that extended family experiences are weak or non existent. At least weak from my perspective. Weak in comparison to most of my generation.
When we choose a professional, how often will we consider their outlook on family life? How often will we consider their personal family histories and experiences?
Mary Pipher, Ph.D touches on this in her book The Shelter of Each Other - Rebuilding Our Families. In her book, Doctor Pipher discusses the perspective of most Clinical Psychologist Marriage Counselors and Social Workers.
As Doctor Pipher points out it is not just the lack of personal experience affecting her profession. Professional training affects attitudes about extended family.
Again, when we choose professionals, how often do we consider their assumptions, professional attitudes and personal perspective on family?
To read more see The Good Sons Book Club
In the course of our conversation, I discovered this young man had a much different outlook on family. Different from my outlook and different from my generation's outlook on family.
With a few questions, I discovered this man had no brothers or sisters. The young man had relationships with grandparents that were distant, at least distant from my perspective. After further questioning ,I discovered that aunts and uncles never played any significant role in this mans life. At least, they would not be considered significant roles from my perspective.
In my own life, on one side of the family, cousins were as close to me as brothers and sisters. In the young aspiring lawyer's life cousins were people he never met.
How many young men and women are bringing this type of perspective to professions that service families? How many young Accountants, Doctors , Lawyers, Financial Planners and other professionals will bring a shallow family experience to what they do? Shallow in that extended family experiences are weak or non existent. At least weak from my perspective. Weak in comparison to most of my generation.
When we choose a professional, how often will we consider their outlook on family life? How often will we consider their personal family histories and experiences?
Mary Pipher, Ph.D touches on this in her book The Shelter of Each Other - Rebuilding Our Families. In her book, Doctor Pipher discusses the perspective of most Clinical Psychologist Marriage Counselors and Social Workers.
As Doctor Pipher points out it is not just the lack of personal experience affecting her profession. Professional training affects attitudes about extended family.
Again, when we choose professionals, how often do we consider their assumptions, professional attitudes and personal perspective on family?
To read more see The Good Sons Book Club
posted by Dominic Siclare at 6:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home