The Best Way to Experience Family: Through love, support and understanding

Humans by nature are social and collaborative creatures. One of the ways we express this in our lives is through the family.

Much of our culture celebrates the concept of family and?family life.?For example, many

Businesses often offer a?family fun pack?for our?immediate family?and one of the new trends?is becoming an amateur?genealogist, having Genograms?done, and exploring and researching one’s?family tree now.

When most of us think of family it is of a?nuclear family - a?couple and their dependent children. In the old days, this might also include grandparents. This is and has been the basic social unit, and has certainly been the concept of the?American family. Of course, this public idea of family ignored the different types of families that have always existed. This illusion of what “family” means was transformed with the television comedy?“Modern Family”.

Modern Family revolves around three different types of families (nuclear, blended, and same-sex) living in the Los Angeles area, who are interrelated through Jay Pritchett and his children, daughter Claire and son Mitchell.

Here are the basic characters:

• Patriarch Jay remarried a much younger woman, Gloria Delgado Pritchett (née Ramirez), a passionate Colombian immigrant.
• Gloria has a young son, Fulgencio Joseph "Joe" Pritchett, with Jay.
• Gloria also has a son from her previous marriage.
• Jay's ex-wife DeDe and Gloria's ex-husband Javier both make occasional appearances in the show.
• Jay has a daughter Claire who was a homemaker and who later returned to the business world, working as the chief executive of her father's business, Pritchett's Closets and Blinds.
• Claire is married to Phil Dunphy, a realtor and a self-professed "cool dad", who is an amateur magician, as well.
• Claire and Phil have three children: Haley, a stereotypically ditzy teenage girl;
• Alex, an intelligent and nerdy middle child; and Luke, the offbeat only son.
• Haley's off again, on-again boyfriend Dylan. Their relationship is a permanent fixture in the show.
• Jay has a successful lawyer son Mitchell who is gay and is married to Cameron Tucker (who is also gay).
• Mitchell and Cameron have one adopted daughter, Lily Tucker-Pritchett. She is of Vietnamese origin.
• At the series finale, Mitchell and Cameron adopt another child, a baby boy named Rexford.

As the name of the show suggests, this family represents a modern-day family, and episodes are comically based on situations that many families encounter in real life, even nuclear families.

The Takeaway

Family can mean many things. I think of this when I review my own life, especially when I get those promotions about finding my?family crest.?Apparently, Harrison is an important name in Britain. I got the name through my maternal grandfather. When he landed on Ellis Island they asked for his father’s name. He replied “Harry”. The agent at customs gave grandpa his new American name “Harry’s Son” – Harrison!

The point is that the best and healthiest families, whether biological or self-created, offer us love, kindness, support, compassion, and a good sense of self-worth, so we can have a meaningful, and purpose-filled life.

#mentalhealthawareness

#modernfamily

#selfimprovement

#personaldevelopment

The Author: Hello, My name is Lewis Harrison and I created a game theory-based Business Strategies Playbook and Mentoring Method. I use this system to move individuals and organizations to the next level. Applied game theory (which has won numerous Nobel Prizes) has been the basis of all my great successes in life (best-selling author, NPR Host, a great marriage, financial success, great friendships, etc.). Please reach out to me. I want to help you transcend your challenges by helping you to get clear on your intention, and your desired outcome by increasing effectiveness, efficiency, precision, productivity, accuracy, and self-awareness. Check out my Linkedin profile and let’s start a conversation…