A lecturer and Counsellor at the Counseling Centre of the University of Cape Coast, Dr. Gloria Owusu Ambrose says every individual must prioritize their family in all decisions to help promote strong family ties.
According to her, the quest to make a comfortable living amidst global economic challenges has posed a significant strain on the strong family system that use to be in existence.
She said, “family is very important and now we see people chasing so many things at the expense of their families, but we must come back to know that the family should be something that must be given the needed priority.”
Dr. Owusu Ambrose made this call during an exclusive interview with ATLFM NEWS in commemoration of the international day of families.
While indicating that family is the fundamental unit of society, she stressed the need for individuals to re-strategize and change their approach to family.
“Family is important and in all our planning we should let our family take the central stage”, she intimated
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FAMILIES
In 1993, the General Assembly decided in a resolution that 15 May of every year should be observed as the International Day of Families. This day provides an opportunity to highlight the importance of the family as a vital basic social unit and a key to the sustainable development of a person.
The day is also commemorated to increase awareness about the problems faced by various families in the society
Theme
The theme for this year’s celebration was “Families and Urbanization”, and explaining the significance of the theme, Dr. Gloria Owusu- Ambrose stated that in recent times people are increasingly shifting ways from the extended family system to the nuclear family system because of urbanization.
She stated that “because people are looking for greener pastures, more and more, people are moving away from their hometowns and as you are moving away and, obviously you are not going to carry along all your blood relations with you. So the family is gradually away from the extended family system to the nuclear system.
According to her, it is impossible to say whether people focusing solely on nuclear families is good or bad; rather, there should be a way such that there is a blend between the nuclear and extended family systems because both are advantageous in a way.
“she said “through this movement, people have also found better lives for themselves, people are getting access to better education as a result from moving from away from extended family and that aside to, the extended family system to is not completely out of order……So in an actual sense, we cannot categorically say it is bad or good that people have moved away from the extended family, but it is important that we look at the merit and demerit of both systems and see if they could be a way of having a blend so that we just don’t cut off completely from the extended family.”
SOURCE: EMMANUELLA AMA GYAMFI/ATLFMNEWS
