Family meetings: How important are they to you?

Maybe important to keep in touch with each other.

Here in Latvia I have quite a number of relatives. In their view I am a foreign member having come to Latvia from the U.S They live their own lives and they do not even invite me for occasions like weddings and christenings. So in this case there could never be any family meeting. I will tell you that there are times when I really miss having family to turn to.

I think they are. Unfortunately, I had to miss out on our last big family get-together. My eldest cousin had come home (to England) from Australia. That's my Mum's side of the family. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone seems to look like our grandparents, I don't know if we recognise each other most of the time. Well, as Mum's side of the family is so large and spread out, it's difficult for people to see each other a lot. I didn't really grow up with my cousins (mainly because most of them are quite a lot older than me) but it's still nice to see them when these things come up. As I said, I couldn't make it to the last one because my youngest son was in a parade with his Cub Scout group. My Dad's side of the family is much smaller and don't really do such getting together. We're not really close to any of them but we do keep in touch. I'm trying to be better with my own children, step-children, and grandchildren as I do think time with family is very important. It doesn't have to be big social meetings, of course, as it's important to keep in touch all the time but, especially when people are far away or busy a lot of the time, it is nice (and, I think, important) to make some special time for them.

Some family meetings are more important than others. We have 'family' members who are not related. These ones are often more fun to meet with than the blood relatives.

I thought people have family meetings to dicscuss something very important that affects all the members of that family. I have seen them on TV programs, but, my family never had them.

Yes really it's true.

My closest family are my daughters and I spend a lot of time with them. We also get together for birthdays and Christmas.

It doesn't happen meeting to our relatives anymore. They are all had changed. My immediate family and I are always getting in touch. My father side is really different and treated us indifferent.

We all live in the same house but have family meetings, they differ anywhere from you all need to work hard to where should we go for vacation

It's very important, if I'm the one to be asked. It' make the family closer to each other. The bonding sprouted stronger feeling of love. Even just in dine table while having lunch or dinner, it makes closer family ties.