This topic can be very sensitive for some. Many families have been exposed to this at some point in their lives. The kids voices often times goes unheard and suppressed which can lead to issues in their adult lives.

We began by starting off with the definition of a dysfunctional family. Then ask yourself if you know better, then why not do better? Learning to have knowledge of self means you learn to have understanding of your true history in return may alter your previous way of thinking and acting.

Alot of the way we take care of our bodies and the foods we grew up eating in the African American household have been traditionally known for giving us African Americans high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and kidney disease. Even with us knowing this we still prepare these foods day in and out for our families which include the children. This is the continuous unhealthy cycle that our kids learn from the adults and later have to deal possible health issues since the odds are so high in this particular culture relating to poor eating habits and lack of exercise.

Now we can touch on the traumatic or dysfunctional things that could have occurred in your childhood life either to you or a family member that you were told to keep quite about, keep hush, brush it under the rug, wipe it out of your mind, convinced that it really didn’t happen, you will get people in trouble if you tell someone..the list can go on and on. Some of these encounters can come from dealing with alcoholism, rape, domestic violence, child abuse, mental illness, drugs, and incest to name a few. If these things are not dealt with early on, chances are you will see some behaviors in the adult life that stem from that suppression. As the wife, I encourage you to have these candid conversations with your spouse or significant other so they can have a better understanding of each other’s background and why you may react the way that you do. You two can learn together how to relate and communicate uneasy conversations and the best positive way to do so. There may be certain things that will require you to sit with a licensed professional to learn how to acknowledge, forgive, express your thoughts, feelings and manage them in a healthy way going forward. There is nothing wrong with that. You owe it to yourself to no longer live in bondage and to break the chains and generational curses and cycles for your children.