8 Biggest Family Challenges of the 21st Century

The format of the family in recent times has changed significantly and, along with the transformations, the challenges of maintaining a good relationship between family members have also increased. Not to mention the obstacles that contemporary life has brought to the domestic scene – long working hours, for example. Find out below which are the solutions from various specialists for you to have harmony and happiness in your home.

tolerate the differences

For Mirian Goldenberg, professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and writer, the family portrait that is drawn today is based on the quality of relationships. ”There is more investment in affection, time and attention. The domestic division of tasks stems from permanent negotiation”, she defines. Precisely for this reason, what will keep this new family together is the commitment of everyone involved. ”It will be necessary to respect the individuality of each one and encourage dialogue and reciprocity. It means accepting that not all conflicts will be resolved and that we have to learn to live with differences”, says Mirian.

Overcome the end of love

Preserving marriage and therefore family unity is not easy. For the French philosopher Luc Ferry, author of Families, I Love You (Ed. Objetiva), the cause of this difficulty lies precisely in love and in what he calls its “perverse effects”. “We live, at least in democratic societies, in families founded on the principle of marriage for love – no longer marriage for reason. This is progress, but all progress has its price: if we base marriage, and with it the family union, on affection, how can divorce and disunity be avoided when feelings turn into indifference or hatred? That’s the problem with the modern family as opposed to ancient times, when marriage wasn’t linked to love and people didn’t get divorced”, believes Ferry. The way out he sees is a lot of weighting before making decisions. ”We need to have the wisdom to choose whether to remain with our own or to start over the adventure of a new love. Whatever the decision, it does not bring back the original love. Once we are able to actually accept the choice made, then we all gain a lot – but it is not always easy”, he admits.

teach respect

In most families, the word solidarity is abandoned. ”We live in an individualistic society. Everyone only thinks about their own pleasure, their own interests and their own freedom”, observes pedagogue and master in education Tânia Zagury, author of several books. The solution, according to her, is not simple and requires a new attitude on the part of the family. ”It is necessary to educate the child to think about the other as well. But to rethink values, coexistence is necessary: ​​having a family meal, watching television together or sitting down to chat to see what concepts the child is acquiring. If parents don’t create a space for dialogue, tomorrow they won’t know anything about their child”, she assures.

fight violence

Senator Patrícia Saboya (PDT-CE), coordinator of the Parliamentary Front in Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, considers it a challenge to educate in a world as violent as this one. ”I see a great technological advance accompanied by a setback in personal relationships. Violence is returning to the stone age. It is not enough to kill: it is tortured.” For her, the fight against violence starts at home, with a frank dialogue between parents and children – and a lot of limits. Setting boundaries is key. Youth is kind of loose, getting more and more aggressive and earlier.” Obviously, there is also a big gap to be filled by the public power: “Violence exists because there is trafficking, poverty, exploitation of child labor and, above all, inequality. The public school does not offer perspective for the future”. Patrícia believes that the solution lies in the democratization of quality education, access to culture, information technology and leisure. “If everyone has access to opportunities, that is, to everything that is capable of transforming a person’s life, we will live in a less violent world.”

See more tips for solving today’s family problems on the next page.