Family

The past few days in class we have been discussing families and the questions surrounding how families enact with one another and what effects families have on each individual member. On a basic level, I think that it's interesting that human nature makes people strive to be close to people and be loved, while at the same time there is always the subconscious push to reproduce, and really only find a mate for that sole purpose. I think that the roots of a family are formed because there is usually an extremely close connection between parents and their ofspring. Then, as the children grow and reach the age where they start forming relatationships with their potential mates (the horrible teenaged years, AH!) there is usually a period of separation between parents and their kids. However, there will always be the connection (in most families) where parents are reliable, supportive influences which are the basis for how their children have formed their own personalities and way they act in their own families. Someone brought up a very interesting point in class by saying that people learn values from their families, which may or may not be good values, but because we are constantly surrounded by them before starting school or whatnot, we believe them to be what is "right".

How does a person who is brought up in a family with parents who don't have good morals live and function in society? And furthermore, who gets to decide that a particular moral is bad? Elementary school teachers? Government?