Family Is Still the Most Important Institution We Have
My mom visited on Sunday.
We picked up Culver’s hamburgers, sat together, and watched the World Cup.
For now, she’s still living in a care facility. Like many families, ours has had to adapt to changing circumstances. It reminds me that the moments we have together become more valuable with each passing year. Not because they’re extraordinary, but because they’re increasingly finite.
That afternoon got me thinking about family.
We spend a lot of time talking about the institutions that shape society, like government, business, schools, churches, and nonprofits. Those conversations matter. But the institution that has the greatest influence on our lives is family.
That doesn’t mean every family is perfect. Far from it. Families can be messy, complicated, and occasionally frustrating. They require patience, forgiveness, and effort. But they’re also where most of us first learn responsibility, generosity, resilience, and what it means to care about someone other than ourselves.
Healthy families teach us how to navigate conflict, celebrate success, and support one another through hardship.
The research backs up what many of us already know from experience.
A 2025 report from the Pew Research Center found that only about 16% of Americans say they feel lonely all or most of the time, but younger adults are significantly more likely to experience loneliness than older adults. The report also found that married adults are less likely to report frequent loneliness than adults who are unmarried or living with an unmarried partner, underscoring the important role close relationships can play in emotional well-being.
Despite having more ways to communicate than any generation before us, many people feel increasingly disconnected. Technology has made it easier to exchange information, but it hasn’t replaced the value of showing up for one another in person.
Family doesn’t solve every problem, but it often provides the first line of support when life becomes difficult.
Even something as ordinary as eating dinner together has value. Several systematic reviews have found an association between frequent family meals and healthier family functioning, stronger parent-child relationships, healthier eating habits, and improved adolescent well-being. While these studies don’t prove that family meals cause these outcomes, the connection is remarkably consistent across decades of research.
— Mark Edgington
Mark Edgington is a nationally syndicated broadcaster, commentator, writer, husband, and father. He writes about family, civic life, community service, travel, and lessons learned through experience.
This article also appears on Medium where you can learn more about Mark Edgington’s ongoing work.
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