MembersWhatever Happened to Meaningful Relationships?

A boy asks his father, “Dad, are bugs good to eat?” “That’s disgusting,” dad replies. “Don’t talk about things like that over dinner!” After dinner the father asks, ”Now, son, what did you want to ask me?” “Oh, nothing,” the boy says. “There was a bug in your soup, but now it’s gone.”

Sometimes parents should listen to their children, but all the time children need to listen to their parents, at least that’s what we tell ourselves. There was a time when children had to listen to their parents because without their family children could not survive.

There was no bank where they could get a mortgage to build a house – only family could help. No supermarket to buy food – only the extended family to provide. No health insurance or a hospital if you got sick – families were left to take care the best they could. And there was a time not long ago when there were no schools – your mother and father,...