Maintaining strong family ties is very important for my parents and grandparents. Thanks to this commitment, I consider the nature of their relationship supportive and filled with love. These traits are manifested in a willingness to help or comfort at any moment, maintain communication, and share experiences. From my point of view, I am fortunate to grow up in a family that represents such an example of a relationship. However, all people have their own features and a subjective opinion, which leads to the fact that there are no ideal families and everyone has their own problems. Despite the importance of family love, parents may often find it challenging to build trustful relationships with their adult children and need to make a considerable effort to maintain them.
My parents have different views and character traits from my grandparents, and sometimes these contrasts cause difficulties in their relationships. For example, I have noticed that it is difficult for my father’s mother to accept that he is already an adult. She still tries to care for him, considering my dad a little boy, not just to support him, and, in this way, provokes his irritability. Nevertheless, my father is respectful of his parents and always seeks to help them if necessary.
In my mother’s relationship with her parents, I see manifestations of the generation gap. My grandparents have a more traditional view of the family, where responsibilities are gender-segregated. My parents, in turn, have more partnerships in their marriage and constantly help each other. In some situations, different views can cause conflict between my mother and her parents.
Thus, love in the bonds between children and parents is essential, but it is sometimes not enough to maintain a warm relationship. If my grandparents increase the pressure on my parents, show disregard for their opinion and status, the situation can lead to family estrangement (Blake, 2017). Nevertheless, such a problem should not arise since there are more manifestations of support and love than contradictions. Thus, not only parental care but also respect for the boundaries of adult children should always be the basis for communication.
Reference
Blake, L. (2017). Parents and children who are estranged in adulthood: a review and discussion of the literature. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 9(4), 521-536. Web.