Describe one of your family members you spend the most time with

Who is he/she?
What do you usually do together?
What kind of person he/she is?
Why you spend most of the time with him/her?

As I am a student, I spend half of my waking hours at my college and rest at home. I have five persons in my family and I really love to spend my leisure time with all of them. However I love to be with my mother most of the time. She is humble and thoughtful person. She takes care of everyone in my family. She is a working women. She works in a bank. She comes home at 6 pm and by that time I am generally done with my studies.

when she comes, I help her in her daily chorus. She tells me about the daily happenings in her office, what problems she faced at work and how she responded to those. She is really passionate about her work both at office and home. I learn a lot from her about life. Her experiences, hard work and passion encourage me to do and achieve big things in my life and career ahead.

Besides being great mother and Professional, she is an awesome cook. She knows lots of recipes and she is extremely good in making cakes. Every holiday, we cook together something special of our family. I admire her, she is my idol. I wish to be like her someday.

If I had to talk about myself, I would say I am very reserved person and it takes a lot of time to become familiar with strangers. However, I love spending time with my family. I am very close to both my parents but as we are all working (as they are working and I am studying), its hard for us to spend time together.

The person I do spend a lot of time together with is my nephew- my brother’s child. He is nearly five years old. He is very special to me. There are many reasons for that. Firstly, everyone says that he looks like me and secondly, we both like spending time with each other. I think the reason for that is we feel very comfortable with each other. I get to act like a child around him and I miss being a child.

He is also like me – very shy with strangers and he is very naughty – just like I was in my childhood. So, spending time with him reminds me of my childhood in some ways. In my childhood, I was in a hurry to grow up but now I sometimes wish I could reverse time and bring back my childhood.

There are so many things we do together. But something that we really enjoy doing is to play pranks on Deepa, my sister. I think we can do that all day long. We also both love eating chocolates, so whenever we can, we try to buy and eat chocolates secretly. However, I do get scolded sometimes as I am the adult.

I also have a dog and so we both like playing with her. We love taking her out on walks and feeding her. In the evening, I take my nephew to the park and just spend time on the swings there. Sometimes, I wish he would always remain a child, but I know that’s not going to happen even if I wish for it a million times.

Part 3 – Follow up Questions

Ques: – How many generations usually live together in India?
Ans: – I think the situation in India is undergoing a change. Earlier joint families were more common and three or four generations used to live together. On the other hand, nowadays nuclear families are more common with maximum of two generations living together.

Ques: – Is it important to visit family members?
Ans: – Yes, it is really important to meet family regularly. I think family defines us and family is what supports us and stands with us in bad times. However, I think this selfless bond only stays if we remain in contact with each other.

Ques: – What are the values of family in your country?
Ans: – The think the main values of family in India are respect for elders and prioritizing the needs of the family over our individual needs. That is why, in India we think in we rather in I, for example we own a house, we own this car.

Ques: – Why is family bonding necessary for happiness in life?
Ans: – Family bonding is necessary for happiness because it gives us secure. I mean it makes us feel that we are not alone, there is someone behind us.

Ques: – Do you think the support from a friend is different from the support from a family member?
Ans: – I think certainly. There is an element of selflessness in family relationships, which I feel is missing when it comes to support from friends. Also, it doesn’t create a burden. What I mean is we do take help from friends but then it also makes us feel that we have to repay it. This feeling doesn’t come in the case of family.

Ques: – Who should be more responsible for educating the children in a family?
Ans: – I think both the parents should be equally responsible. However, I also believe that both parents necessarily don’t teach the same things. For example, both boys and girls learn gender appropriate behavior from fathers, while they love more about loving, sharing and caring from mother.

Ques: – Do you think there are differences between how men and women care for children?
Ans: – Yes, there is certainly a difference. In India, fathers are generally stricter, and they don’t show their love openly. Mothers are much more open in showing their love and affection. I think it’s hard to define the difference, but I certainly feel there is a difference.

Ques: – Do your parents do household chores equally?
Ans: – Yes, my parents are very particular about the household chores. For example, my father is responsible for buying the vegetables from the market daily. He also makes the breakfast and tea, while my mother makes the lunch and dinner. I also have the responsibility of taking out the trash in the morning and feeding the dog. We have a maid for cleaning and other things.