Friday, April 22, 2005

Families

What is `a family`?
Reading something a friend had written today sent my thoughts along a line of thinking I often get. We so often now-a-days see and hear the phrases - family outing, ideal for families, family worship, family friendly, family service and others...
Do they mean that those events are just for a family i.e. a mother, father and childen?
They sound fine for them, but they make me as a single person feel very excluded. An odd one out. Lonely. That life has passed me by. (And if one goes the same feelings apply when seeing others in pairs or families).
Instead of being inclusive language, it seems very exclusive.

2 comments:

Dave said...

Most churches did realise this several years ago, which is why they dropped the phrase 'family service' and refer to All Age Worship. Family service though is the familiar phrase, and easier to say, so people still use it.
But, obvioulsy, I agree with what you say.

Ivy said...

Yes, that is one area where the phrase/word has been changed in some places.
I wasn`t referring just to church life but to life in general too, where you see places of interest adverised as `a day out for the whole family` and that type of thing.
You also get `family packs` of items, can`t single people buy them?!!!