Topic: FAMILY BACKGROUND INFLUENCES HOW A PERSON PERCEIVES THE WORLD

Family is the basic foundation of a society. A complete family usually consists of a father, a mother and a child. The family is a childs first role model and influence. When we were born, we were not born with a set of values and expectations. We learn them from our parents or adults who raised us. We learn not only by having our parents teaching us, we also learn from example and by watching and observing them. This has been proven by a research done by the famous Jean Piaget, Babies and young children learn through their senses, activity and interaction with their environment. These include the familys background, culture and social interaction within the place where they grow up.

When a child is born, they are already interacting with everything around them. There are two ways that the family will influence the future of their children: directly and indirectly. Parents directly teach their children values. This includes teaching the rights and the wrongs, religious education, how to interact with other people, and rules and expectations. Indirectly, parents train and socialize their children by example. Children will get to see how their parents interact with others, make choices and determine what is right and wrong for themselves, and these impacts them when they develop their moral values.

We are with our family from the time that we were born. We gain our first knowledge from them. Our families taught us what they believe and what they hope that we will believe. For example you have a set of identical twins that are born. One stays with the natural family and the other was put up for adoption. Lets say that the natural family is Chinese and the adopted family is Malay. The Chinese family will teach their child the Chinese values and language. They will feed their child Chinese food. They will also celebrate Chinese festivals. While the adoptive family are going to teach the child Malay values and language, having Malay food, and celebrate Malay festivals. Even though these identical twins look exactly alike, because of their upbringing they are nothing alike. This will be continued until they have grown up and have their own life.

Being raised in a Malay and Islamic culture, it has given great influence on my personality and life from the way I act to the things I do. It is very important in the Malay culture to respect the elders and uphold the Islamic view in heart and it is expected that every

child does so. I was taught this at a very young age and it has been embedded in me ever since. I have come to be respectful not only to my elders but to everyone around me as well. Likewise in upholding the Islamic believe and culture throughout my way of life.

The importance of education is highly viewed in my family. It is passed down from one generation to another. When both of my parents were younger, education was their main focus in life as to improve their life. My grandparents knew the importance of education and made sure that each and every one of their children received one for a better future. Now, just like my parents, I also do the same stresses to my children on how important education is and try to make sure they receive a good education. It is because of my parents that education comes first in my life and that is why I will make sure that my family especially my children know the importance of education.

A child sees his future by what is around him. If nobody around him values the importance of education or has low education then the child would not think it is important and might not even have the skills and knowledge to attain a good education. Perception of the environment is passed down from one generation to the next. Of course not all those things will be carried out throughout their life but enough to have a large influence. And of course culture too influences what you place importance on, what foods you eat, how you view illness and death, afterlife, and much more.

As we grow up and get to an age that we can understand what "values" are, we can begin to internalize them. This mean it is not necessarily that we will carry values learnt from our parents throughout our entire lives. As we grow, we have our own experiences that will also shape our values and expectations. In my opinion, as a parent in this era, not only do we set examples for them and guide them in how to make good choices, we must also give them the opportunities to make important choices while they still have the safety net of the family to catch them.

But still I do believe that family should be the most influential aspects of our society. I believe that growing up without a family would make many people lost and not know how to act in the (Placeholder1) (Placeholder1) (Science, 1989)society. Our parents are our rolemodels as kids, and we learn from them. If we have nobody to follow these aspects, I believe that humans would have a hard time out in the real world. However, I do believe that

family is not the only place to look for how we behave in society. After our family has showed us and taught how we should act, we can go out in the world and experience them first-hand. One family cannot show all the aspects of how to behave, think, act, and feel towards society, we need to live it ourselves and know what else is going on in the world.

As a conclusion, whether or not we will admit it that our family have a major influence on which we are as a person. It is our family's history, culture, and environment that mould and shape us into the person that we are today. Respect, the importance of education, my values in life, and my personality are just some of the principles that I have gained through the influence of my family.

REFERENCES
Help, E. (2007, November 15). Paper Analysis. Retrieved March 9, 2012, from http://essay001.blogspot.com/2007/11/family-influence.html N, A. (2008). Our families have a major influence on who we are as a person - UCF essay! Retrieved March 9, 2012, from EssayForum.com: http://www.essayforum.com/undergraduate-admission2/families-have-major-influence-we-as-person-ucf-essay-2946/ Science, A. A. (1989). Chapter 7: Human Society. Retrieved March 9 , 2012, from Science For All American Online: http://www.project2061.0rg/publications/sfaa/online/chapter7