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Our family home should be a haven we can return to after a long hard day at work or school and not simply a filling station we visit before moving on to the next day. A house can be a place built of bricks and mortar where we keep our belongings, feed ourselves and use as abase to get on with our lives. A home is something entirely different. It is a place where we gather with our loved ones, where our children grow and where we enjoy laughter and warmth.

Unfortunately, there are countless families who live in houses that are not homely or welcoming. When husbands and wives are like ships that pass in the night and the children become latch-key kids, there is no basis for enjoying the warmth and comfort of home life as they concern themselves with their own lives and live as a fragmented entity.

A house is not always a home as can be seen from the increase in divorce, domestic violence and homelessness. These are all symptoms of family breakdown where a house has proved to be a place where family members go to eat, wash and sleep. There is no interaction that forms the relationships necessary for a warm home life. Home should be a place where families gather together and talk to each other, play together and enjoy fellowship between parents and children.

Coming home to the smell of cooking, to the noise of the children and to the general hubbub of family life leaves us with a warm feeling we never experience when returning to an empty house. Home is all about living together and enjoying the memories of life that are being formed daily in a homely environment. Both parents and children need the companionship of one another in order to enjoy genuine homeliness wherever they may live.

A real home is not about how large it may be or how many possessions we may have. Even families who have very little in the way of material things can enjoy home life where there is love. The irony is that many families become so obsessed with earning a salary that allows them to buy a bigger and better house that they lose their home life in the process. They soon learn that a house is not a home as their lifestyle prevents them from forming relationships and the sad result is family breakdown.

People live in houses of all shapes and sizes. Some live in mansions, some in trailer homes and yet others in small, cramped apartments. No matter where we may live, our house can be a home that is filled with warmth. Home should be a welcoming haven from the outside pressures of life and if so, will result in a family that spends time together and becomes bonded with love.

Learn more about this author, JC Campbell.
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