In the creation story, God saw it necessary to create the woman as man could not live alone. He further went on to instruct them to multiply and replenish the earth. In this sense, it was in God's perfect plan to create the family and not individuals.

---

What Family Mean To Me

Family comprises a group of people related by blood, marriage or law. In other words, one can become part of a family by birth, through a legitimate union called marriage or adoption. My biological family for instance is made up of my father, mother, myself and two siblings.

Every family is made up of different peculiar and unique persons who complement each other. In my case, we share some similar traits like height, skin colour, voice pitch, and oh, our eyes, but we are all five distinct people with different views about life as well as beliefs.

---

Can 2 families be the same?

Two families can never be the same. This is because of the influence of some societal factors like culture, belief system, experience etc. While some families are supportive, the others are the opposite.

---

Do you currently belong to a family?

I belong to two families presently. The first is my biological family as mentioned earlier and my second family is where I was adopted— not legally though. For confidential purposes, I'll not be sharing further information concerning the latter.

I come from a family where love and care are immeasurable. Can you imagine a home where the father can make any amount of sacrifice for his children and family? Even till now, I wake up to see that my dad had fixed everything I need for the day — financially and otherwise. How about siblings that love me and are ever ready to defend the other. You can't hurt one and go scot-free. Sounds like a fairy tale, right?

I wish that I can also experience this and even better in any other family I have later.

---

Is your family the ideal type you will like to always belong to or are you just managing it?

I think that God personally selected them just for me. I'm always grateful to Him for blessing me with this wonderful set of people. Without mincing with words, I'm grateful to have them. I call my family a Perfect Family, not because we are without flaws but because we triumph over every challenge we come across.

There is an Ibibio adage that says:
Ubôk mmùm ubôk mmùm etúd ékpád (When we join our hands together, we can do anything)

Sometimes I usually wonder what would have become of me if I didn't have them. Every member of my family is the best I could wish for. It's common to see us laughing at the same jokes or cheering our dad on when he does his funny dance. Family time is just fun time.

---

How to improve my family?

Sincerely, we do encounter some challenges and with the help of my parents, these problems are resolved amicably. Right now, I can only speak about how to sustain the peace and love we have.

1. Prayers: I'm religious and I believe in the power of prayers. This has always solved trivial or major issues in the past and even now.
2. Humility: This is a quality I admire in my father and I'm aiming at inculcating it. I've learnt that we can maintain peace in the family when we let go of any pride that might set in because of our gender, age, educational qualification and social status.
3. Service: My brother watches out for every member of the family. He makes sacrifices that are not common for a child of his age but these little things have gone a long way to foster peace and love among us.

---

My advice to other families

One can choose his or her friends but this does not apply to the family especially when a person is related by birth or at other times adopted. Everyone has a collective role to play in sustaining peace, love and growth in the family and so these are things to note:

1. Practice what you preach: It's common for people to neglect the values they want others to imbibe. In a parent-child relationship, for instance, children tend to adhere to the instructions their parents abide by and when parents default the orders they want them to implement, they tend to follow suit. No one else can influence the family except you and so every change begins with you.

2. Grudge is a no-no: There might be that annoying member of the family who is always getting at your nerves. It's okay to get pissed off by their actions sometimes but it's never acceptable to keep malice or bear grudges as it only breeds more conflict. Forgiveness remains the key here.

3. Love others because you have love for yourself:
Conflicts will always exist but the love one has for his or her family covers them all. The best way to love others is by loving them because we love ourselves and not because of what they do for us.

Some Extra Tips For Every Member of A Family

1. Do the things your family members love. These little things go a long way to maintain love and peace in the family.

2. Avoid being overcontrolling or overbearing: No one loves to be controlled and so it is very pivotal to discover a good way to pass your thoughts, beliefs and instruction.

3. Be accessible: In Africa, it was believed that fathers were meant to be overly revered and in the process, their presence only brings fear to their family thereby making them inaccessible to their children and wives. Most homes today have done away with such belief and are living comfortable and happy.

4. Understand the other member's passion:
Do you know that watching your spouse's favourite football match or movie, children's animation as well as playing their games can keep you connected in a way nothing else can?
Now you know.

The family was established for its members to support each other and there are lots of things that can be said about it but I'll like to stop here. What new thing did you learn?

Thank you @steemkidss for giving us this opportunity to talk about the unit that is so precious to us.

I'm inviting @etieno @uwak and @lakshi