Essay On Hispanic Family Culture

Children are raised in many different cultures all over the world. As we know, cultures differ from place to place. They have different rules, values, roles, and even communication patterns. An example of this would be a French person greeting someone, and an American greeting someone else. The French say hello by kissing each other on both cheeks. As Americans, we tend to shake hands. These things are what determine how a child will turn out after being brought up in that culture. Children growing up with Anglo-European roots are taught to value their independence, boldness, equality, achievement, self-help, and self-directedness.
All of these values significantly affect the family. They believe in family privacy because it is said that
families will be allowed to raise their children as they see fit. The only time that this is interfered with is when the parents neglect or mistreat their children. Individualism is also another highly valued trait. Those who subscribe to such thought believe that individual growth is essential to a well-balanced approach to life. It should be noted however, that equality amongst others is essential as well. Those who have come before us have worked extremely hard to gain equality in this country and it should be cherished.
Life as it was once known has changed due to the vast amount of modernization and blending of cultures that has occurred within the past 30 years. People talk, walk, and dress differently with a steady eye always toward the future. Success now based on power and resources, especially money. Each individual is expected to do his or her best and is often thrown into the arena of fierce competition in which he or she is encouraged to flourish.
Families communicate differently within themselves. For example, at dinnertime my whole family will sit together and talk about how the day was. All day long, everyone is out doing their own thing but at dinner the whole family comes together. This is the time of day that they set aside to communicate amongst each other. Other families might just see dinner as just another meal. Instead of sitting together around the table, they might all just come in, take their dinner, and go where they want to eat it. The kids might go in the family room and watch television while the parents sit in the kitchen. This differs for every family.
Religion takes a toll on the children, but not as drastic as it would have in the past. People have the right to pick their religion and what they believe in. Some even feel that spirituality is not important and do not support any religion. This is often seen across cultures. Let us take for example, those who identify with a Hispanic genealogy. They represent the largest category of Mexicans (62.3%). Hispanics have a large emphasis on family. Hispanics, as a whole, have strong family ties, believe in family loyalty, and have a collective orientation that supports community life; and have been found to be field dependent with sensitivity to nonverbal indicators of feeling. The illustrative Hispanic family is steeped in a male dominated family structure. The male is given the chief responsibility of providing for his family. He is the provider and must also keep everything controlled and together.

In society today, Hispanic males are feeling less powerful because women are out entering the work force.
Now this means that they are not the only ones who are out supporting the family. Hispanics place elders in a higher status. I think this is because they have been around for longer and have had much more experience dealing with life situations. The youth look up to them for advice, and have great respect for them too. People of Hispanic backgrounds also believe that the individual deserves personal one on one attention. Children are what confirm a marriage. The relationship that the parent creates with the child is pretty much put in front of the marital relationship between the parents. The boys are cherished and the girls are protected. The mother is the one to teach her son that he is to become the provider and will then also have to protect his family. Negative emotions are unacceptable in the traditional Hispanic family. Out of respect, they do not put their personal problems out in the air. Of course this presents a problem psychologically. They are taught not to express negative emotions or to disagree, which could in the long run, create some psychological problems. As far as religion, most Hispanics practice the Catholic religion. The church is the main point for both social and inspirational occurrences. Prayer is also a large part of their everyday life. They turn to God for many things such as illness, celebration, and even mourning. Families from the Middle
Eastern cultures have different and diverse bearings. Within their own culture, there is a difference between those who are from educated from large urban areas and those from more rural areas. The higher educated people are more familiar with Western culture and adapt to the U.S. easier. The primary focus is the family though. They tend to live with multiple generations in their homes and also work together. The family is headed by the male figure and they are deeply into their religion discipline. It is as if the family is proud of its other members and shows this by keeping the business in the family, handing it down generation after generation. Children are their reason for living. People of the Middle East feel that they were put here to have children. The males are greatly valued at birth. Same as the U.S. , they find neglect to be a serious crime. Mothers are close to the children and are seen to be the primary caregivers. The babies are kept in the same room as their mothers and sometimes even in the same bed. To the Middle Eastern people, they find the word "no" to be impolite. When it comes to people in professional status, they feel that it would be disrespectful to disagree with them, or even to challenge one of their ideas. Same as the Hispanics, they do not feel that it is proper to express their individual needs. Religion to them is a large part. It effects them culturally, socially, and politically. Today, Islam is the most practiced religion amongst people of the Middle East. This is different when it is compared to the other cultures. They all kept religion as a private issue (except the Hispanics). But in this case, it is a huge part of their lives.