[November 4, 2022] Interestingly, human children have the most prolonged dependency period of any animal creature. This makes the social bond between mother and child of primary importance. And from that, we find the importance of family.
Around that mother-child bond is the need for a structure for it even to be possible for children to survive the dangerous early stages and then to be socialized. It takes a minimum of approximately 16 to 18 years for that child, often longer. That is the price we pay biologically for our highly developed cortical capacity. Our intelligence takes that long to program.
Social cooperation is absolutely necessary to allow that bond to occur and develop. The first thing you have to do is decide that genuine relationships are necessary. A Pew study done not that long ago showed that about 75% of Americans regarded their familial and intimate relationships as the most meaningful part of their lives.
We need to recognize that there will probably not be anything more important to us over the course of our lives than our family and intimate relationships. This means making them high-quality if you’re embedded in a functional social community.
In our family and our broader community, everyone around us constantly reminds us how to be sane. They let you know when your jokes aren’t funny. They let you know when you’re too irritable and arrogant. And so that holds you together. Dr. Jordan Peterson says this is like a marketplace; “a distributed cognitive marketplace for sanity.”
The fact is, people can very rarely tolerate isolation. It is unusual that a person can be on their own and mentally stay together. Pair bonding is a fairly common strategy in the animal kingdom, especially for child-rearing. It seems to be the same circuits that bond a mother to a child. Pair bonding facilitates the long-term relationships necessary to ensure that children are raised properly and stably across time, so society stabilizes.
The thing about pair bonding, even though it might be necessary, there’s another element to it. And that has to do with the social distribution of sanity. There are many things wrong with us, and there are lots of things wrong with your marital partner. But hopefully, if you join together, the wrong things can be worked out through dialog, across time, and via negotiation. It’s not an easy thing to do.
Mere love or sexual attraction is not adequate to bond you together across times of extreme difficulty. You will find that there are times in your marriage when you are not attracted to your mate, and you’re not getting along. It would help if the community around you said, hey, look, you have to think about your relationship over the decades and not over the weeks and months. You need to adopt the responsibility to maintain your long-term relationship because, all things considered, it’s better for everyone.
It gives you the narrative of your life. It provides you with a companion who knows who you are. It helps you maintain your sanity because you have someone to contend with. It provides a stable environment for the raising of children. It’s the minimal necessary social structure that other social structures can be built upon.
But you need society to say, stay together. It’s an accomplishment. It’s not just a responsibility and a necessity and love. It’s also an accomplishment that you should be celebrated for.
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There is nothing nothing nothing greater to a man or a woman than the family.
Gen. Satterfield, you are really pushing hard the idea that family is the most important thing to make you a full person. And while that is true and your space is limited, I would ask that you give us a more detailed future answer.
Got that right Adolf. I’d too like to see more on this subject because too many young folks these days outright reject marriage because they see it only as a piece of paper and that is not true.
If u believe the lie that children are only a problem, then ur life will always be missing something important.
The family is a support system we can be sure we’ll have access to for the rest of our lives; we can always count on family. We get support from our families when we are sick, broke, heartbroken, etc. We all will face hard times in life, and during these hard times we’ll need someone to lean on, this is where the family never fails (in most cases, lol).
Bryan, nailed it. Family is a built-in support system for us. That is why we also must take responsibility for the family too. We must play our part to get what we also need from it.
There is nothing as reassuring as being the member of a loving family, it gives a sense of belonging and security.
Don’t ya just love this leader website? I do. Been a fan for a long time. Reading it just gets me going in the morning. The General is there to shine a light on the darkness and it works.
Janna, I do appreciate your loyalty to this site and Gen. Satterfield. Hang in there, there will be more great info from Gen. S. and I’m standing by to receive. Check! Don’t forget the Daily Favorites each day too.
This site of leadership is clearly my favorite. Not only do I get copies of Gen. Satterfield’s books but I support his ideas in my family and at work too. It does me a lot of good to read and give some real thought to what he has to say. I try to implement those same ideas and they work. Keep up the great works you are doing Gen. Satterfield. You da man.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1737915529/
Thank you mainer for saying what i wanted to say.
I’m a huge fan of this leadership site and have been for a long time.
Right. 🎆
Love is the nucleus of everything, with love anything is possible. The family is built on compassion, kindness, and affection, the family is built on love. We all need love to add any kind of value to the society we live in because it is through love that we can give our best.
Family can take a lot of forms and it serves various functions, it is the basis for procreation and plays an important role in socialization. Obviously!
Not so obvious to those like the Communists who want to do everything to destroy the nuclear family. Gen. Satterfield has pointed this fact out on numerous occassions.
Hi guys, TGIF. I just wanted to take a moment to remind us all to get a copy of General Douglas Satterfield’s book “55 Rules for a Good Life.” You can get a copy at Amazon and be sure to leave a review, an honest review as he always asks for. Thank you! Enjoy the weekend.
The values and coaching passed on to us from our family members will stay there guiding us for the rest of our lives, thereby ensuring our growth and survival in the society. It won’t be an understatement to claim that our family is the first institute where we were taught how to cope up with the physical world. In fact, psychologists state that a child learns most of the things in life from his family.
Got that right Julia. The importance of family can never be overstated. ✔
Right!
The moment you enter this merciless world, where each man is for himself, there are some near and dear ones out there who leave no stone unturned to ensure your happiness.
Family is very crucial to guide you down the path of morality when it comes to outside influences such as dealing with drugs, alcohol, peer pressure, bullying, or someone saying negative things to you.
What lies in the epicenter of that are the people who consider themselves family and the love that they have for one another. These bonds are important because family helps us get through the most disastrous times and the best times. Family is important because they can offer support and security coupled with unconditional love; they will always look to see and bring out the best in you even if you cannot see it for yourself.
Well said, Max. Thank you! ❤❤❤❤❤
Love the family.
Families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.
– Unknown
— and my personal favorite quote, “You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”
– Desmond Tutu
Thank you guys for the quotes. I don’t think that anyone can reasonably contest the importance of family. The General is making his point plain and in detail. Thanks Gen.S.
Good quotes.
Family matters the most of everything we are involved with as humans, period. Nuff said.
The family today is under attack by liberal progressive marxists. Let’s pray for the family.
Yep, nuff said.
❤
During hard times, everyone in the family including you benefit due to the extended relationship, especially during events such as death, accident and so on. Also, the joy associated with success or any other happy moment magnifies when our family is around.