Family Infrastructure
Every organization or entity that lasts and endures (from a school to a fraternity to a company) has three things that allow it to survive and to thrive (and that give its members the identity, security and motivation that hold them): (1) rules/boundaries/order (laws and patterns of behavior that protect other members and preserve the whole); (2) an economy (a way of dividing work and having all members contribute to the bottom line); and (3) traditions (which provide enjoyment as well as identity, unity, and permanence).
Together, these three elements create an infrastructure that makes a family work efficiently and that provides individual family members with the support and help (identity, security, and motivation) that they need to be happy, successful people. Like the infrastructure of a city (roads, bridges, water systems), a family infrastructure takes time and effort to build, but once it is in place, it saves time and makes everything more efficient. Let’s take a closer look at each of the three elements: