Politics in the Home
Agreeing with Aristotle, the renowned Greek philosopher, man is a “political animal”; this was built on the fact that man is a social being, having the power of speech and moral reasoning. Simply, politics is the method of making or reaching agreement within a group (of people) to enhance living together in peace, love and progress.
The group may be as small as a family or business company, and may be large as a city, tribe, or country.
In large groups, such as countries, some people may spend a lot of their time making such agreements or decisions.
This understanding reflects in the home (or family) government. We as well may see politics involved in taking decisions on how the home management may maximise the limited family resources to the benefit of every family member.
A Classical Example
There is a case of a large African family of three wives and 17 children (all below 18 years in age). The father is a middle class employee and desires good education for his children. In addition to his salary is the rent from a couple of tenants who take accommodation in his house.
Agreeing with his wives, he will be responsible for the children’s education to tertiary levels and the wives are to take care of their children’s feeding up to age 12. And fortunately, the children are evenly shared with the mothers.
To subside the pressure of demands, the father adopted some policies which include:
- prudent money management against taking loan on any ground,
- personal time investment in the children’s primary education, and
- short term financial savings to fund landed properties.
An Investment Strategy
At the school holiday periods, the father engages artisans with his teenage boys serving in erecting more structures for rent. Also, the father pays tokens for his boys’ labour; but as well monitors that a greater part of their pay is saved.
Observation
That’s a good picture of healthy politics in the home, which of course is obtainable outside the home, even in the office or community and nation. The father, through an exemplary lifestyle, leads his family to manage the available resources for development, building prudence and discipline in the children.
Evidently, politics is good but the personalities involved are often the chief brand determinant.
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