Paper Argument

A lot of families these days seem to be missing something in their relationships with one another. The strong family ties seem to have been lost somewhere way in the past. Relationships between each member of the family are very weak and most families do not even know each other anymore. This is a huge reason why the divorce rate has sky rocketed.
It seems as though many families only think providing material goods (including food, clothes, and shelter) is the only thing that parents need to do. In reality there is another HUGE aspect in parenting and that is providing your children with love and respect and not only with children but between spouses. With that aspect gone families no longer seem to take interest in one another goals and do not really participate in challenging activities together that can create flow.
Csikszentmahalyi says, “it takes more than food in the fridge and two cars in the garage to keep a family going” (110). Today’s society has made materialism such an important part of life that we have all seem to have forgotten to basics to life. “The most widespread attitude seems to be that as long as material needs are provided for, a family will take care of itself; it will be a warm, harmonious, permanent refuge in a cold and dangerous world” (110). Sadly, we have seen that this is not true. Families that lack the strong bonds that tie a family together fall apart in the end if it is by divorce or just growing so far apart that there is no longer than comfort there between family members.
Csikszentmahayli goes as far to point out that in the past marriages lasted forever because the wife and husband needed each other to life. For example; a farmer takes care of his field and the wife takes care of the house. Therefore, they are both working together for the single goal for supporting their family and being able to live and eat. Nowadays man and woman do not need each other to survive economically. A woman can now go and get a job and support her just like a man can. “When marriage was supposed to be forever, it did not need constant effort to maintain” (111).