Adam Pedley

If you are reading this blog, you are most likely the person who is learning and growing and enjoys doing so. Funnily enough not everyone likes to learn and grow, they become stuck in their ways and think they know it all. Family members seem to be great at this. They are the people in your lives that you can’t naturally move away from. So while you attract others and move away from others in your life, family tends to stay rather constant.

Once you begin to grow and change as a person, conflicts will arise with your famliy. Why? Because you are changing, yet your relationship is still based on the old you and your family members. What I see happen from here, with myself, wife and friends, is that a huge conflict comes about. Words and actions are exchanged that cause normally a huge falling out, that you stop communicating with your family members.

But then what happens (eventually) is that communication is reopened in a new way. You can tell things are different when speaking with them, and you will act differently around each other. While there still may be a few rough patches when you start talking to them again and a possible few more minor conflicts, generally you will all accept each other for who you all are now.

Don’t think of this falling out as a huge catastrophy. You are still family, if you were in real trouble they would help, just as you would help if your other family member was in trouble. The bond still remains, just accept things will now be different, you have grown. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different.

Parents and older family members will always assume that they know more than you, because they are older and they raised you from a child and you will most likely assume you know more, as most people (including me) tend to think like that. Now in reality, older family members will have more life experience and know things that you don’t, but if you are continually learning and growing you will end up being wiser than them and knowing more things (although possibly different things) than them. Will they ever accept this, not likely, as especially if they are your parents, they raised you from a child, and in their eyes taught you how to be like you are today.

While they did teach you alot, and be grateful for that, you will learn things from other people and sources and if you are proactive, you will know more than them in many ways. An interesting saying I have heard is “if the son wasn’t smarter than the father, then we would all still be living in caves.” Whether you believe in evolution or religion, each generation (with possibly the exception of todays young generation ) is getting smarter.