Very often we don’t agree with our parents when we are children and later we don’t agree with our children when we are parents.

Have you ever felt that older people don't understand your problems? That's probably because there's a generational gap of experience. Because they're older, or younger, it seems you share no common ground.

Every family has unique and treasured family traditions and stories. The oldest members of extended families are often the keepers of these riches and pass them from generation to generation. The greater the connection with the generations that came before, the more traditions and stories there are to share with the next generation.     

Family stories help to provide valuable perspective and understanding of the past and the present, as well as strengthen family ties across the ages. Family traditions vary from culture to culture and family to family. They may include recipes, holiday celebrations, songs, books, or games. These traditions are the legacy one generation can leave for the next. But traditions can mean so much more, when the older members of the family share the stories behind the traditions, the reasons why the family tradition exists.

Today as the successful get younger and younger and the new makes the old obsolete in record time, the generation gap is much more evident and clearly here to stay.

The generation gap affects not just grandparents but increasingly parents as well. Rapid technological changes have made it almost impossible for any but the very young to adapt fast enough. With age, response time goes up as inertia of rest sets in and before you know it, technology has overtaken you. Also changing social values and economic conditions have combined to produce what some call "the brat”. He is confident beyond his years, has more opportunities for making money, is in the prime of life and focused only on money, glamour and fame. So what if he is only a teenager? In today's world if you're over thirty you're probably over the hill. Unfortunately however, as far as legal and social definitions go, he is still a child and subject to your discipline. And so the stage is all set for conflict.

In the last few years alcohol and drugs have come up in a big way. So has materialism. Modern teenager is no longer content with living life with a modest budget. He wants to enjoy life's luxuries. On the one hand, he is willing to work hard to achieve his aims but on the other hand, the single-minded pursuit of success doesn't leave much time for family especially grandparents. Overall, the world is graying fast but the respect and dignity traditionally accorded old age is disappearing just as fast.

The generation gap can be found not in all families. There are many households where it doesn't occur at all. There are fights and arguments and children defying their parents but these are occasional and minor.

 Our roles always play a curious act. The future of citizens and nations depend on the generation crops. So, we need to give them proper care.

In my opinion, care should be given in the family.

Family gives spice to life, happiness, but family first of all is a great responsibility. To my mind, the aim of our society should be a healthy, strong family which brings up a new generation.

Hence, the state should give even more attention to care of a family, for example, increasing of real incomes, social benefits and privileges.

So, family life demands knowledge, abilities and also skills of a person. But do young people always realize the responsibility of being called "a wife” or "a husband”?

Youth is the period of crossroads. Young people feel a great yearning for independence. They think that everybody around is trying to give a piece of advice, restricting their initiative.

Doubt is one more feature of being youth. Constant questions and not always answers.

Youth is the time when we fall in love, discover something new and unusual. Sometimes this unusual thing becomes a family. It really gives food for thought.

I think, relations including mutual understanding and respect, are not a miracle like it is described in fairy tales. Family is something that we create ourselves. Unfortunately some young people don’t understand it. When we speak about family, we speak about a psychological maturity of a person we mean his ability and readiness to overcome difficulties without which the life in general and family life in particular is unthinkable.

 My view is that, the best way to explain something is to give an example. That’s why I’m sure the best way to bring up a responsible, mature person is to lead by your own example. Adults should show the essence of family values.

Values are moral principles and beliefs or accepted standards of a person or social group. Values are formed not by means of properties of objects, but by means of their involvement in the sphere of social relations. Family is considered as a social institution. Family values include value of marriage, value of equality between spouses, value of interpersonal communication in the family.

Nowadays family values lose their significance. And partially it happens because society is unable to be a model of family values. Undoubtedly most families now need a two-parent income to survive financially, which means there is less time for normal family life. Fathers don’t want to be involved in their children's lives and don’t recognize the importance of father’s role.

I can give one example. In the yard near my house there are always a lot of small children strolling around not knowing what to do. Sometimes they play together, sometimes they just sit doing nothing. Only once I saw one father going out with his son. Together they started to plant trees   and later other boys joined them. This example, however, didn’t inspire other parents. They were still very busy to be the part of their child’s life.

This is a vivid example from our everyday life. And then parents are surprised to find complete lack of understanding between them and their children so called generation gap.

The famous Russian pedagogue A.S. Makarenko once said: "Our children are future citizens of our country and citizens of the world. They will create our history. Our children are future fathers and mothers. But that is not all. Our children are our old age. Correct upbringing is our happy old age, incompetent upbringing is our future grief, our tears …” I fully agree with these words.

In conclusion I want to say, that family happiness is not a gift of destiny, this is a hard work of spouses. And we, young people, must realize that we are the part of the chain, which is called "life”, we are our parents’ hopes and at the same time we are creators of the future which is impossible without family support and values.