{"id":665,"date":"2009-10-07T08:34:58","date_gmt":"2009-10-07T12:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=665"},"modified":"2009-10-07T08:34:58","modified_gmt":"2009-10-07T12:34:58","slug":"next-to-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=665","title":{"rendered":"Next to Normal"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Broadway there is a\u00c2\u00a0 play called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Next to Normal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a musical on how suburban households cope with crisis and how hard parents try to keep families intact.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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I thought to myself when I saw this, what is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d family anyway? \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Oh, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen model families from the outside looking in.\u00c2\u00a0 I suspect these folks are some of the best examples of families I have come across in my lifetime.\u00c2\u00a0 I also suspect that, if I told you who you\/they are, they would deny being a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d family based on their perceptions of what normal families are.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are some qualities, however, that seem to resonate among these families.\u00c2\u00a0 Here they are:<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. parents are good communicators and teach their children the importance of good communication<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. children feel safe and secure at their homes<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. children are encouraged to become who they want to become and at their fullest possible potential<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. faith and religion are important parts of the family\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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5. family rallies around when encouragement and support is needed<\/span><\/p>\n

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6. parents are honored and loved – even if they do think differently<\/span><\/p>\n

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7. families know how to play together<\/span><\/p>\n

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8. parents help their children to become financially responsible individuals<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure there are more, but I suspect this would be what an ideal normal family would be.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been fortunate to see this in other families and appreciate those qualities. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

My wish for you today<\/em><\/strong> is that you have experienced these things with your family.\u00c2\u00a0 If not, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never too late to explore some alternatives for your own family so you can be as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153next to normal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joellen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Broadway there is a\u00c2\u00a0 play called \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Next to Normal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a musical on how suburban households cope with crisis and how hard parents try to keep families intact.\u00c2\u00a0 I thought to myself when I saw this, what is a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d family anyway? \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-life-to-the-fullest","category-parenting-families"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}