The Family: The Most Profound Change Agent

I am not a father yet and my family at this stage consists only of me and my wife. I do believe however that I am already the father that I will be. In other words, I don't become a father when our first child is born. My fatherly orientation should already be present.

The interesting distinction in the Afrikaans language between extended family and the nucleus family I find very useful. In Afrikaans there are in fact two different words: "familie" which translates to 'extended family' and "gesin" which is the nucleus family.

Some of you might ask why am I putting this kind of information on the web? Isn't this obvious stuff? I strongly believe in basics! Our world is structured in a way that does not pay attention to basics and I strongly believe that if we CALM DOWN and ask ourselves what is really important we can avoid allot of pain and suffering. I therefore strongly believe that if we get the basics right at home they are the same basics that we will need to make things better in the work place.

I will even go so far as to say that we need more fathers, and mothers, in the workplace. The reason I say this is that a real father, a real man, knows when to be disciplined and strict and when to acknowledge, praise and care. So in other words if you have men and women that know what it is to be a parent and fulfil their roles it will strengthen their position in their workplace.

The same goes for brothers and sisters. If we are taught how to maintain intimate, caring, and disciplined relationships with our siblings it will permeate in all other environments - the work place included. We should then be much better equipped to deal with people of the same age, younger, and older. We spend gazillions every year on professional education and training but how much do we spend on improving our family skills? Perhaps we should start at the root.