Home is where the heart is. A certain place where a person grew merely affects his thought, beliefs and actions as he matures and socialize with other people. You are what you are today base on how, where and what influences you to become the individual that you are currently is. If you are wondering how a home influences you, well it is because a home greatly influences your happiness.
An expensive dream home may cost you too much and you will end up unhappy regardless of how expensive it is because you find it hard living in a house where you find people that are not easy to get along with.(Fisher, 2006).
Place or setting is a person’s immediate surroundings including both physical and social elements. (Fritz 1981). A sense of place can be defined as the particular experience of a person in a particular setting, while the spirit of place is the combination of characteristics that gives some locations a special feel or personality. Both sense and spirit of place is necessary in molding an individual because its effect on the personality, thinking and social behavior is merely influenced by the way and the place that he was raised.
Family is greatly influenced by the place that they live and the people that they get along with and through these, their individual personalities are molded and the manner of thinking towards a certain subject matter is relatively affected. Hopefully as a group, they address most of the aspects commonly associated with sense of place and belongingness, place attachment, topophilia ( Setha L, Altman I.,pp1-12)
If a family lives in an environment capable of giving them necessary comfort and the people that they met there gave them the hospitality and feeling of belongingness within the community, then it makes them feel welcome and be motivated to live happily and in perfect harmony. Topophilia is the affective bond between people and place of setting. Such ties may vary in intensity, subtlety and mode of expression. The response to environment maybe aesthetic, tactile or emotional. (Tuan, 1974).
In the event that a family transfers from one place to another because of certain reason, problems tends to arise because another adaptation to the new location is expected from them. Different place, different people to deal with makes children confuse at times. Parents on the other hand experiences certain dilemma like where is the best school fro their children, nearby establishments like church, market and office to work with.
There are also times that the comfort zone of an individual is set apart from him or her because of relocation. Once you are already conformed in going to the woods every time you feel stressed then the place you moved in doesn’t have any woods then where will your comfort zone be? It somehow gives you feeling of restlessness which is inherited from your parents because you are given the feeling of urge to go somewhere new every so often because you are used to moving in from one place to another.
There are certain factors that causes a family’s sense of place or home to change, this is where certain circumstances where rivals among family members take place and perhaps one of the strong factor is when divorce comes in. Divorce is one of the most considerably traumatic period in an individual’s life. Separation and divorce is associated with heart-rending emotions, unspeakable sadness, anxiety, great depression and in worst cases suicide. Sadly in the US, divorce is adversarial because the spouse is often treated like the enemy by the other spouse.
Divorce causes family distortion. From conjugal properties down to emotional and behavioral foundation is triggered to fall during this occurrence in a family. Children of divorced parents are those from unhappy families and are reported to have a high chance of behavioral problems than those of non-divorced parents from a mix of happy and unhappy families. Studies also reported the former to be more likely to suffer abuse than children in intact families and to have a greater chance of living in poverty. (Fagan,2000)
Children tends to be rebellious when their parents had divorce because attention and guidance is already broken. They tend to question why it had happened from a happy phase to a tragic separation of household. Some good things never last and some points of our lives it is better to be separated than to be confined in one place with people that you no longer find happiness. But since you are a part of a family you expect more from your parents but from children of divorced parents they seek for care and more understanding because the questions are still hanging in their minds why such eventualities happened to them. The kind of socialization is also affected because their friends have complete sets of parents which they don’t have. Worst it makes them deprive living in a society which they might feel unjust because it is not their fault and they are just the victim of their parents misunderstanding. This is where suicide might occur.
But not all children treats divorce as negative, it also serves as a lesson for an individual not to make the same mistakes that their parents have done. Once they will settle with their own family, they will try their best to avoid and repeat the wrong notions of relationship, commitment and love. At the same time make faith the center of their relationship with their partners and let God be the center of their family.
Religion plays an important role in Families because through spiritual relationships, seems to be more of an intuitive connection than an emotional, cognitive or material connection. Religious practice promotes the well being of individuals and families in the community. Regular attendance at religious services is often linked to healthy, stable family life, strong marriages and well-behaved children. The practice of Religion also reduces incidents of abuse, crime, divorce and addiction. It also leads to an increase in physical and mental health because you feel spiritually healthy and always thinks of good things in a brighter perspective guided by faith. Moreover these effects are intergenerational and will be passed from generation to generation. Place rootedness affects religion and family relationships and vice versa.
The role of the external environment plays an important impact on our internal emotions, characteristics, and personalities. But in the end it is still our wise choice that will make or break our individuality.
Works Cited
Fagan, Patrick F.; Robert E. Rector (2000). The Effects of Divorce in America Backgrounder #1373. The Heritage Foundation.
Fisher, Jeanette Joy. “The Power of Home”(2006)
Low, Setha and Irwin Altman. (1992). “Introduction. in Place Attachment, edited by Irwin Altman and Setha Low”. New York: Plenum Press. pp. 1-12
Steele, Fritz. (1981). The Sense of Place. Boston: CBI Publishing Company, Inc.
Tuan, Yi-Fu. (1974). Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes, and Values. New York: Columbia University Press.