Purpose

My mother and aunt love to visit estate sales. (Reading Kate’s blog brought them to mind; they are both with the Lord.) They usually came home with an antique from bygone days. They bought a memory. I have even purchased furniture, thinking I would pass it down. My family has great memories of sitting around an oak table. My daughter’s trinket box is full of flattening pennies from the places we visited.

It is not the object, but memories of a moment that echoes of the past.

It is not the things or objects but the memories tied to a moment in time that fleshes out echoes of the past with family.

God established the family as the basic societal unit long before He established the church. Worship begins at home and sets the heart toward God. Raise a child correctly; when they are old, they will find the truth again.
Worship was the responsibility of the head of the household. 

Cain refused to worship God but instead offered his work, offering instead the fruits of the cursed ground. Only God saves and offers forgiveness. Our efforts always fall short. The Ten Commandments proved our need for Jesus' death on the cross. After the flood, God removed the ground curse, but the other three remained.
Through progressivism, Marxism, and a few more isms, the family as the basic unit in society has been under attack for the past 100 years. From Woodrow Wilson's payroll taxes and centralized banking to allowing pornography to blanket the airways, removing prayer from schools, and teaching false history to abortion, the family is suffering.
The family is a child's first clan, first home, and the first taste of love and security. It is worth saving as an independent unit, separate from government interference.
These comments may seem like a weird direction for the blog, but as a teacher who has taught the significance of the family, it flowed out.