Global Citizenship

There was a time when families lived their lives in a very limited space. They grew their own food, made their own clothes, and interacted with their immediate neighbors. Their knowledge of anything more than a day's travel away was sketchy.

In the twenty-first century, families live in a much larger space. They listen to news from around the world, buy products from many countries, and experience entertainment media from all over the world. Transportation, technology, and trade provide often instantaneous connections among the world's people. Because families live in this global environment, they are affected by it, and they necessarily play a role in preparing their members for it, whether they do so consciously or inadvertently. Although much of the discussion about globalization takes place in the fields of economics and politics, families are also intricately interwoven into the international environment.

Families are like musicians creating their own music. Their tunes and lyrics are shaped by the places where they live, the events and changes that occur around them, the songs that they teach to their children, and the songs their children teach them.