The Family

In the Filipino society, the family is the center of social structure as opposed to a vast area of the western world wherein the individual is given more attention than the family. Much like most of our asian counterparts, the family is a collective wherein the shame of one is considered the shame of all and the success of one is thought to be the success of all. As everything else, this idea (or culture) has its positives and negatives.

For one, the family serves as a Filipino's strongest foundation in all situations whether it's financially, employment, emotionally, security, etc. Your family (assuming you're a Filipino) expects you to help them in their time of need as you are almost assured of reinforcements if you yourself is put under a difficult situation. However, this develops in the strong dependency of children to their parents as the parents will provide anything (and everything) just for the sakes of their children in spite the fact that they themselves already suffer. (see my post: Money and Pride) I've discussed this condition with someone in the AFS office and he said that parents love their children wrongly and end up ruining their lives for them and I say that I completely agree. The sense of responsibility in children are lost and when they start living on their own, they find it real hard to stand on their own two feet.