Life and relationship begin at home and the home is the primary and most vital factor in a child’s development into a mature and stable member of society because of the amount of time spent at home where all personal interactions take place.

The church, work and school play secondary roles and as such, it is the parents’ responsibility to create an environment in which the child can learn the lessons of life more easily and relate appropriately with the larger society. Thence, the family is the bedrock of all relationships.

But life has changed so much now that there is less time for building the family relationship. The demands of work and school have increased tremendously. We hardly have time to get to know our neighbours, and they are also too busy for us. But what is worse is that many are too busy to spend time even with their own family members. As a result of this, family life is suffering a lot today. In many homes, both parents have to go out to work in order to make ends meet and this in most cases have resulted in neglecting the needs of their children, which in turn affects the quality of their relationship.

God directly devotes two of the ten commandments to protecting family relationships. In the fifth commandment, we see how important honouring parents is in maintaining a Christian family relationship. God gives the seventh commandment “You shall not commit adultery,” to protect the honour and sanctity of marriage. It is through marriage and the family that we learn how to conduct proper relationships, both with other people and with God. Since it is such an important institution to character development, God does not tolerate its defilement.

The quality of one’s life can largely be dependent on the quality of relationship at home as it is often said “charity begins at home.”