What Does Family Mean to You?

In Canada it is the Family Day long weekend.  Over the past two generations the make-up and definition of family has shifted from a nuclear - Mom, Dad and 2 kids to any combination therein including same-sex couples (thankfully our legislation is catching up with these shifts in family dynamics).

When I lived in NYC people didn't want to give up their rent controlled apartments so married couples would keep their original apartments and live between the two.  They were no less a family because they didn't occupy the same space.

Or in a case of a friend of mine here in town, he and his ex-wife were sharing a duplex so that the kids could be co-parented more effectively.  They were no longer married, but the interests of the children created a different habitation agreement.

Regardless of whom you live with, or how you live with them, family is one of those things that "just is."  Later this month I am taking my oral exam for the Family Enterprise Advisor certification and one of the things we talk about is "famliness."  That unique quality that ties people together and can sometimes add a layer of complexity.

This Family Day weekend, how are you spending your time with your loved ones?  Are you enjoying the great outdoors?  Volunteering?  Traveling somewhere?  Whatever you are doing and however you are celebrating those in your life you call family, I hope you are enjoying yourself... even if your mom is nagging you from the other room.

Happy Family Day!

Join us for our Family Philanthropy Retreat at the Banff Centre, March 11 - 13, 2016.