Today is New Years Day and never before have we all been so delighted to kick a year out through the front door!
Last year was certainly a challenging time for so many for so many different reasons.
It clearly has been especially difficult for those who live alone, those who don’t embrace technology and those who have been shielding.
Like no other year, that I can remember, family hit almost every headline, the importance of all family members from the eldest to the very youngest.
Being unable to see family members has been experienced by everyone, be that the Queen, the Prime Minister, to ourselves, each and everyone agreeing how not having that special contact with all family members is devastating.
For decades, family values have been lost.
Rather than building on the relationships in all families, all too often the voice was one of, ‘we don’t need them.’
Family breakdown is rife, and children/grandchildren have become the weapon of choice for far too many.
Websites appear telling you how to cut out family members from your life, feeling like some sort of cult.
In 2020, our TV was full of distraught grandparents who were not able to hug their grandchildren, letters from grandchildren asking for the Coronavirus to go away so they can see granny and grandad.
We need one another.
It is a human instinct to have human contact so when it is taken away either by a dangerous virus or a revengeful parent, the loss and void felt is the same.
It is heartbreaking for the adult and the child.
As I have written before, of course this temporary separation will come to an end eventually, but for many more the unjustified estrangement will continue.
If we have learnt anything at all in 2020 it must be that families matter, that we must do all we can to value all family members, but above all, we must focus on the well being of children. Children just want to be growing up within a healthy family environment, even if things go wrong in their parents relationships, they still love both parents and extended family.
As adults we have a responsibility to all children, and to work hard to make sure they maintain those relationships.
