Has our current generation lost its ties to the family legacy? In recent years it seems, the sense of comfort, security and support that parents should be passing on to their children instead has given place to alienation and loss of family identity. However, experts have found that this economic uncertainly of the past several months has contributed to the re-defining of the family value system. Family members once again are trying to get closer together in search for security, emotional support and some kind of order when the whole outside world seems to be in chaos.
How can they do it more easily? According to history, the Great Depression had already taught families similar lessons and stressed the value of family bonds and heritage. However, since the great recession has hit us two generations later, the lessons that were learned have been forgotten; and the corporate culture,
individualism and materialism seem to have replaced the core values of family legacy.
Dr. J. Otis Ledbetter is the founder of Heritage Builders and Dr. Sherman Smith is Executive Director of Heritage Builders. Both are the authors of many books that teach basic spiritual family values. They teach parents to base their legacy on three fundamental blocks.
* The first, Dr. Ledbetter explains, is an emotional component, which inspires stability at home, unconditional love and support.
* The second component is social and involves spending more time with your children in social environments, such as participating in their soccer
practice, for example.
* The third component is spiritual; and this one, according to Dr. Smith, is the most absent from our modern families. The spiritual heritage is the knowledge that children should get from their parents on how to deal with the unseen and unexpected realities of life and their spiritual relationships. For the families wondering where to start, there are certain simple steps.
Resources such as FamilyHeritage.com have many easy-to-use tools, such as educational books that teach how to create or re-establish family traditions
that will be passed on from generation to generation. The family traditions will create a strong sense of identity and may include events such as holidays, spiritual birthdays and other events. Then there is information on how to create a home environment that draws children back. Ledbetter & Smith say that even though the economic situation is tough and the external world might seem cruel and unforgiving, parents and children can create or re-establish their strong bonds and draw their security and comfort from their strong family traditions that eventually should be passed on to the future generations. The strength of a nation, after all, comes from the strength of a family.
