Family togetherness

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The text for this topic is copyright Parenting SA, Government of South Australia.

"Hullo Sis; how you been?"

"Alright, a bit tired, got my minya granny here, his mum is sick, she's been in hospital for a couple of weeks now."

"Hey Sis, bring him over here for a couple of days, I'll watch him unna? Yeah c'mon gives you a break, and it would be good for me to see my little nephew!"

You, me, our mothers, fathers, uncles, grandparents and our cousins, we are all one big family. Our family is the place where we learn how to live, how to behave, how to treat people and how to respect everything around us. These teachings we pass on through the generations.

We do this by sharing! When we are sharing our food, or our clothing, our money and even our homes, we are also sharing togetherness and responsibilities, our time, our advice and encouragement, our support and our love! All this allows our kids to know, understand and identify who they are.

Even though we might live in another town or somewhere else, we are all still part of our community and can still help with the 'rearing up' of our kids.

This 'rearing up' is at the heart for us as a community. It lets our kids have close contact with their relatives. Our kids are then able to learn things, and they learn by hearing what we say, watching things being done and practice what they have seen and heard. This is a very important and accepted way of our family life and is a good way for our kids to learn.

To be there for each other and to have this spiritual connection is important.

These things might help

• Make use of our parents, our extended family, especially our elders, for they have lived and learned.
• Teach our kids to identify with and know their extended family.
• Teach our kids how to respect others and why it is important.
• Don't 'knock' but value the differences that each person has.
• Try not to do everything yourself... share it around.
• Remember its good to have time together, but its good to have time by yourself.
• Teach our kids how to do good things by what we do.

These places might be able to help you

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services 6205 4798
• Barnardos Parenting and Outreach Program  6241 5466
• Child & Family Centres -
  Tuggeranong 6207 8228
• Gungahlin 6207 1020
• Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation 6231 9555
• Lifeline 13 11 14
• Parentline  6287 3833
• Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service 6284 6220

ACT Govt Publication No 08/0618 May 2008 (Revised 0806)