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26th Oct: What would life be like without your family?

What would life be like without your family?

Next week is National Care Leavers Week, and life is even harder for young people who grew up in care when they turn 18.

So how do you feel about your own family? Did you grow up with a family member missing? Did you grow up in care?

Join Gemma and Dr Radha on Radio 1 this Wednesday 26th October at 9pm to find out how important being part of a family really is.

Please note: You can post on this forum anonymously
Original post by BBC Radio 1
What would life be like without your family?
Next week is National Care Leavers Week, and life is even harder for young people who grew up in care when they turn 18.

So how do you feel about your own family? Did you grow up with a family member missing? Did you grow up in care?

Join Gemma and Dr Radha on Radio 1 this Wednesday 26th October at 9pm to find out how important being part of a family really is.

Please note: You can post on this forum anonymously


I greatly appreciate the majority of the family I do have ( i dont speak to two cousins anymore but i made the decision with great regret after their atrocious behavior and so cut them out of my life). My dad passed when i was 9 so i guess i partially grew up without one (i never wanted my step dad to be a father figure to me) and i know how to sudden I could lose any of the rest of my family (after losing more family members after dad) so although i should really see them more any time i get with them is indeed precious.

However,i know how lucky i am to have my mum in my life. A close friend got put into care at 12, and I m incredibly proud of her for how well she's done in life and have a great level of admiration for how she manages to keep a positive attitude despite having an unwell parent and having lost the other young like i did, sometimes i dont know how she does it.
Reply 2
I haven't always had the easiest of times with my family both with our relationships and then their health. Never had a relationship with my dad's side.

My mum had me quite young and was abused by my dad and as a result, she was an unfit mother for most of my life both due to her conditions and she was damn right evil sometimes with things she would say or do. She had been hospitalised before due to bipolar disorder, anorexia and suicide attempts throughout my childhood and I was mainly raised by my grandparents and saw my mum as my sister for many years.

My grandparents raised me perfectly pretty much. I can't really fault them and they have a very big part in what has shaped me to this day. They did spoil me a lot, I can't deny that :colondollar: they are both great people and I'm so glad I still have my grandparents to this day. Since my papa's on the transplant list, I know how important it is to cherish every moment you have with them. A situation like that puts it into perspective.

I'm glad to say I know have a great relationship with my mum. We are no longer like sisters and are actually like mother and daughter now. She got help and we took a break from talking for a while and I think it all helped us both mature and I couldn't ask for a better relationship with my mum now. She's the first person I turn to and whenever I have a bad moment, my first thought is to turn to her. People can change and I'm forever grateful my mum did :h:

Life without my family would be hell. I know one day I'll lose them and I dread the day but til then, I cherish every moment with them and hope I make them proud.

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(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 3
I grew up with my Dad, Mum, sister and brother. Without them my life would be lonely and depressing.
(edited 7 years ago)
Thank you for this post. It allows people to reflect on their relationships with their families and I think that that is very important.

My family is my parents and my parent's are my life, my father in particular. I consider him my best friend. He's been my support my entire life and god have I been testing. Without my family I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't have been successful at school. I wouldn't know right from wrong. I wouldn't be healthy. I don't think I can really do my parents justice. They are my heroes. I owe them so much.
Original post by BBC Radio 1
What would life be like without your family? (...)

So how do you feel about your own family? Did you grow up with a family member missing? Did you grow up in care? (...)


Maybe a better one. There are hardly family members who I really liked, be it in the distant or near relations. Don't to mention appreciation.

Feeling? loneliness, bitterness and rage to put it in some words. A feeling which should not be exist in a family life, am I right? it seems I am not grown up in care.

Family member who I missing? my elder brother for a long time. Otherwise no one in my family. Maybe some cousins of my own.
Reply 6
I've grown to become reliant on them, to the point where if my parents died i'd probably kill myself.
Original post by Ishax
I grew up with my Dad, Mum, sister and brother. Without them my life would be lonely and depressing.


It is vice versa when I am thinking about my family. Would you say that it is a mercy of birth to grow up in a family who is capable of taking care for children? or would you say it is even a game of luck to live in a careful family? a luck which cannot be influenced by ourselves?
All of my family are dead or more less non-existent, I've been living the past 2 years of my 17 on my own. Had carers, would never allow myself to get close to them.
Father left my mother during pregnancy so when she died I was effectively orphaned at the age of 4 (1 month before 5).

I spent the next 10 years under the care of my grandmother, a further 6 months with another relative and then entered the care system.

It wasn't an experience I'd wish upon anyone else. There were a number of challenges despite having no abuse. I think the biggest was having indifferent carers who rotated daily during my 2 year stint at a time on my life where I was needy and vulnerable.
Like many children in my situation i was made to move out into a flat at 16 although i did get funding for my time during college.

I am indifferent or hateful towards most family members but there are a few I am closer to.
Hmmm)

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