Is blood relations important?

[Guest jaymuney]

Family is important.

[Guest XxSwt Lilo LuverxX]

Yes.
I wonder if the things you said about your brother can be said to your parents as well =/

[Guest I_play_with_dolls]

Yes.

I wonder if the things you said about your brother can be said to your parents as well =/

[Guest XxSwt Lilo LuverxX]

^ hence I said 'I wonder'.
Everyone grows up being taught blood is thicker than water, however as we go through life depending on each of our own individual circumstances it could reign true or false. It really just comes down to the individual, there really is no right answer.

[Voegele]

Most people do consider family to be one of the most important things in their lives. But, I can understand the few who don't.

I, myself, am not very close with my family. I prefer to choose who I have in my life and which relationships I'd like to keep. I don't enjoy the idea of having to like somebody simply because the world has fated us to be related; Or not even like, but that I'm expected to even be around them. Family or not, if you're an ill-minded person, I don't want anything to do with you. I feel like that makes sense. I don't feel like I owe them anymore of my patience or forgiveness than I would any other person. By being born in relation to me doesn't mean they've earned or deserve any special treatment.

But, I do respect my parents/family. They, at least, have brought me into this world and provided me with food and shelter. They've raised me, not always well or in a manner I would have preferred, by they did. And, for that, I respect them and care for them in a way only I can with family.

[Guest MeiHearts]

I can relate to you because I'm not extremely close with my family. But that doesn't mean I don't love them. Although I'm much closer to my friends and boyfriend than my siblings or parents, ultimately in the end it will be them (at least my mom) who will love me unconditionally and always want the best for me. Like you, I use to think I genuinely hate my brother. When we were younger he was the most annoying person ever. And he did terrible things to my siblings and I and always made my parents anguished. Although he's still annoying as ever, now that we're older and do our own things we  don't really get in each other's way. I don't know how old you are but perhaps when you get older you may (or may not) think differently. I don't know your situation but I think in certain situations, it is understandable to not love your relatives. 

[Guest ilmilione]

Blood is NOT thicker than water.

First of all, not all family is equal. Your siblings and parents are people you need to make the most effort for. After that, your grandparents, then your cousins/uncles/aunts, and so on. If you have a shitty cousin, you may not care, but if your brother is having a hard time and is acting up, you would care much more and that would be natural/healthy.

I have tons of shitty extended family that I don't, excuse the lack of language here, give a richard simmons about. My parents give me a hard time about it, but they don't even value their extended family, and only make a fuss when they feel like their side is being treated worse than the other (my parents have a lot of richard simmons up issues between them). I also have TONS of cousins and extended family, so it doesn't mean as much to me as it would if there was only 20 of us.

With my immediate family - parents and siblings - I always make a big effort, even though I don't understand my parents and feel bad about it. I try to make them happier because they're generally unhappy people (or at least not outwardly happy), but it gets tiring. I have siblings that don't live here anymore, and they talk to my parents, but don't see them every day and when they're around, they note how much harder it is because of their spirits. It's sad, but sometimes the ones you love are difficult. With my siblings, I always make an effort too, and we get along a lot better and easier and genuinely do like being around each other. I always feel guilty that I don't feel that way about my parents so I try to accommodate to what they like. That said, when I was a teen, I felt like you - I was all "screw them" because they DO have issues and it's tiring, but they're family and I love them. If they were my extended cousins, like I said, I wouldn't give a richard simmons. And I don't care about most of my extended family.

With that said, "friends" come and go a lot easier than family. Even your lazy richard simmons cousin who you barely ever talk to will care more about you than your "friend" from class that you may see every day. It's just a different connection, so be careful about dismissing family.

[Guest blush]

IMO, they are to a point and usually depends on the situation.

My mother is a really loving person and tried to help my cousin and his mom (her sister/her nephew) but they ended up taking advantage of her and messed up her financial situation which affects me and everyone in our household. My mother and I had the mindset that blood is thicker than water until this happened. Now she won't even talk to her sister.

I think your parents haven't been betrayed by family yet so they don't understand that blood isn't always thicker than water. Family is important but that doesn't mean they can't be bad people. But, it doesn't mean that they can't be good either. My extended family outside my cousin and aunt are loving and would take me in any day if anything happens! You just have to see which ones are the trustworthy and genuinely caring ones and return the respect.

[Guest ilmilione]

^ That happened to my mom too. She tried to help my dad's sister and her kids, then they treated her like richard simmons. After that, she's taken back the whole "do everything for everyone" mentality and has thankfully realized that not all family is great.

I'm grateful my siblings and I are all genuinely loving with each other. I hope we never turn out like that. My mom has some richard simmons up sisters too, and she doesn't talk to a few of them because of the stuff they've done. It's sad.

[Guest .x..snowflake..x.]

I don't think family is the most important relationship. I think it's important to try to maintain good family ties especially with your immediate family but not every family is lucky enough to be loving and understanding of each other and have strong bonds. For me, I love my family but we do not understand each other so we just try to respect each other or otherwise stay out of each other's business. To me, family is not restricted to blood, your family is made up of the people that care most about you and vice versa, those that you love and have shown understanding, respect and thoughtfulness to you, people that make an effort to be there for you through hard times. Those are the most important relationships in my opinion.