Our families are our first teachers. We learn what is expected of us, what is important to succeed, and what failure looks like. We develop our first ideas of our identity and what we believe about ourselves. We also learn about family traditions, rituals, and our first understanding of religion/spirituality.
This prompt will help you create a family portrait of your family with words. You can use an actual family picture to go by or invent one in your imagination.
List your family members and briefly describe each.
Their personality…………….
Their ambitions……………..
Their values…………………
What is the most important thing you learned from each parent………..
What is the most important thing you learned from each sibling…………
Self Portrait
What was your role in the family? Write how that played out in your childhood and how it impacted you as an adult.
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If you could sit down and talk with one family member, extended family included, who would you choose? What would you ask them?
Reminder, no judging or critiquing in your first draft, just get it down on the paper.
Ardine Martinelli 