Family Support Quotes That Unlock Key Insights for Building a Supportive Family

I can’t imagine how different my life would be without the support of my family. Family teach us right from wrong and help us through health, relationship, financial, and career problems. I wish everyone had this kind of unconditional support from family, but sadly, that’s not always the case.

Feeling thankful for the support our families have shown us, we collected the most inspirational family support quotes and sayings and looked for patterns that parents can learn from.

In this article, we share six insights based on family support quotes that will help parents understand:

1. The impact support can have on loved ones.
2. The different ways we can support our children.
3. How to overcome the challenges modern living imposes on family support.

Jump to section:

• What Are the Benefits of Supporting Family?
• What Makes a Family Supportive?
• Why Is Supporting Family So Hard?
• How Simirity App Helps Families Support Each Other
• Summary of Family Support Quotes

What Are the Benefits of Supporting Family?

Insight 1 – Suppress the hard times and amplify the good

Every life comes with highs and lows. 

In a perfect world, we’d want to limit the downs and raise the highs – that’s exactly what supportive families achieve. 

They’re there for you when all seems lost, sharing the burden in those different times. And they are there with you elevating the high times, celebrating your successes and taking genuine delight when things go right.

No product, no service, and no technology can offer such amazing benefits. Only families show their unconditional love. And they’ve been doing it since the dawn of time.

"Family is a life jacket in the stormy sea of life."

— J.K. Rowling

• “When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching – they are your family.”

  — Jim Butcher

• "Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark."

  — Pierce Brown

• “That’s what people do who love you. They put their arms around you and love you when you’re not so lovable.”

  — Deb Caletti

• "It's always nice to have someone in your life who can make you smile even when they're not around."

  — Unknown

• "Alone, you are strong, but together, you’ll be stronger than ever."

  — Unknown

Insight 2 – Families who support each other thrive

You don’t need to come from a supportive and loving family to have a successful life. But it certainly seems to help.

At every turn, I know my family’s got my back. Our kids know beyond doubt we’ll move heaven and earth to help them in times of need. Knowing this gives us the confidence to stick our neck out a bit and push ourselves. Should we fail, our family will be there to break the fall. And if we succeed, success will be all the sweeter with their genuine joy.

So it’s hardly surprising that supporting families thrive.  

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career."

— C. S. Lewis

• "I woke up one morning thinking about wolves and realized that wolf packs function as families. Everyone has a role, and if you act within the parameters of your role, the whole pack succeeds, and when that falls apart, so does the pack."

  — Jodi Picoult

• “Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”

  — George W. Bush.

Insight 3 – By helping others, we’re helping ourselves

You don’t have to be kindhearted to help others – you can do it for your own benefit!

We are social beings, and research shows that we find it truly satisfying when we can help others. Our connection to the people we help strengthens, and we get that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from doing good. 

As a firm believer in ‘what goes around comes around’, helping others makes you a great candidate for receiving help when you need it the most.

“It’s amazing how ‘What can I do to help?’ said honestly and openly can bring you closer to your family.”

— Deborah Williams

• "Anybody who succeeds is helping people. The secret to success is find a need and fill it; find a hurt and heal it; find a problem and solve it."

  — Robert H. Schuller 

• "No man stands taller than when he stoops to help a child."

  — Abraham Lincoln

What Makes a Family Supportive?

Insight 4 – Positive role models

If I were fostered post-birth, I’d be a very different person today. Who we spend time with changes us.

Even today as an adult, my parents remain among my most incredible role models in life. And families are bigger than just parents. Brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins can all be role models. 

A survey by the Barna Group asked 13 to 17-year-old Americans who they admire most as a role model. ‘Parents’ was not allowed as the answer, as previous research showed they were most teenagers’ first choice. The most common answer with a 37% response rate was a family relative, typically a grandparent.  11% named teachers and coaches, 9% named friends and 6% named religious leaders. Encouragingly, most teens named role models with whom they have personal contact. However, 6% named entertainers (musicians and actors) and 5% named sports heroes. 

Our family community is one of the great things in my life. My children have wonderful cousins. They’re good kids, and without preaching right and wrong to our children, it rubs off on them. That’s the power of having positive role models in your children’s lives. But if there were a void of role models in my children’s lives, they would be increasingly influenced by entertainers, probably those on YouTube and the like. There are fantastic role models outside of the family, such as these. But there are plenty of negative role models too, and you never know who your children might find online.

What is the key takeaway here? Your children benefit from regular engagement with their extended family, especially their grandparents and cousins of a similar age. 

"Some of the most important conversations I've ever had occurred at my family's dinner table."

— Bob Ehrlich

• “Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights and our comfort when we occasionally falter.”

  — Brad Henry

• "Children can never have too many positive adult role models in their lives."

  — Unknown

• "There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human, are created, strengthened and maintained."

  — Winston Churchill

Insight 5 – Dependable support, 24-7

Whatever the problem or time of day, who would you call in times of need? For most of us, it’s our family and family friends. 

Being in a family means you are a part of something far bigger than yourself. Consequently, whatever happens in life you’re never on your own. Strong families, our clan, the people we love or whatever you call them, are always there for you.

The togetherness of a family truly goes from cradle to grave. 

“The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.”

— Mario Puzo

• "One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family."

  — Jonathan Safran Foer

• "Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."

  — David Ogden Stiers

Why Is Supporting Family So Hard?

Insight 6 – Modern living reduces the support network

Family life is increasingly trampled upon by all the other parts of modern life. 

Both parents often work long hours to cope with the cost of living, taking their time and energy away from family life. Moving away from family hometowns in search of new opportunities means children rarely get to spend time with their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. And when they do get to meet, all too often, meaningful interactions with extended family are being replaced with screen time. 

And that’s just my family… I love my family dearly, but despite our best intentions, we sometimes fail to be there for one another.

"Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we've put it in an impossible situation."

— Margaret Mead

It is reassuring to know we’re not alone in this challenge. Almost everyone I talk to about this can relate to at least some of it. It was easier in the past and still is in many countries, where all generations of the family live in the same area and support each other daily. 

Knowing that creating a family support network in the modern world is more challenging than ever, is a significant first step. We’re doing well as parents; it’s just harder than ever to achieve! Get smart and find ways for your family to stay meaningfully connected, so your children are ready to ask for help from extended family living beyond their home. 

Simirity can help…

How Simirity App Helps Families Support Each Other

Simirity is a family business. Our children have some family members living nearby but miss other cousins and grandparents living abroad. 

We built the Simirity App so our entire family can stay meaningfully connected and support one another despite living apart. 

There are many ways to ‘stay in touch’ in the modern world.

• Sharing photos in the cloud.
• Messaging in apps.
• Video calls.

These life-changing technologies give the impression that you’re ‘connected’ with extended family while not really achieving any meaningful connection.

A photo, a ‘like’, and a quick exchange of family updates are a poor substitute for really ‘being there’ for those we love.

Despite using these modern tools, I didn’t know what was happening in my extended family’s lives. I saw the highlight reel of their lives, but I wasn’t playing any real part in them. I felt like I was letting them down and missing out at the same time.

We wanted something more. An app specifically designed with family needs in mind. So we made Simirity.

Simirity App is a private storytelling app that unites your extended family in stories, even if you live apart.

Over time, your entire family can build an archive of digital stories, filled with memorable photos, videos and audio, that share your experiences with young generations.

Here’s how the Simirity App helps families connect and support each other:

1. It’s designed to inspire wide-ranging stories about real-life. Unlike social media platforms where only selected highlights get shared, Simirity inspires you with story ideas about topics not commonly discussed. Things like childhood milestones, family heritage, personal achievements, life passions and commentary on world events. In this safe space, you can share great times but also the challenges you faced in life. It’s OK to be vulnerable and share where things went wrong; that is how we can support our family by sharing our lessons and making ourselves available to others in their time of need.
2. Life Lessons are nuggets of wisdom, optionally added to stories to clarify what you have learned. They are a great tool to support the younger members of your family – sharing important learnings within a story that explains how you reached those conclusions. 
3. Just publish to those you choose. You can share with all your family or create stories custom-made for your children or niece and nephew. Personal messages and stories strengthen your connection so they will be more likely to ask for help when they need it.
4. Stories engage family members of all ages. Parents can administer accounts for their children or their elder parents if they need help. All generations are connected in one platform, where stories can ignite family conversations – in person or using messages within the app.
5. With Story Requests, if you or your children have questions for people outside your home, you can easily ask them to create a story about them. Dad, how did you meet Mum again? Mum, how did you cope with having four kids and working part-time? Gran, what was it like when you watched TV for the first time? Story Requests encourage families to ask each other questions, which leads to learning more about each other and strengthening the family bonds.
6. Stories from your family’s past are woven into daily life, with notifications about story anniversaries. Today, 45 years ago, your Gran gave birth to your Mother, and here’s the story about it. Today, 22 years ago, I was living the good life in Australia and here’s the story about it. Today, 7 years ago, you were on a play date with your friend Sammy and here’s a story about it. In our busy modern lives, it is easy to forget the family beyond our home, but with Simirity, family is kept front and foremost in your children’s minds. Their family, the people they can rely on, the ones who will support them, extend far beyond their parents. 

If you’d like to learn more about the Simirity app, you can visit our home page.

Summary of Family Support Quotes

We hope these inspirational family support quotes have shown the importance of family support and can help your family reach the next level.

• Were you there today to help the loved ones in your family?
• What about other people in your life that you care about and what to help?
• Are their needs in your thoughts daily? 

Most likely, you want there to support those in your home. But what about siblings, parents, cousins, nieces and nephews? Even ageing parents can be helped from afar, and the valuable lessons you’ve learned can be shared to help younger generations thrive.

Think about how you can go beyond text messages and video calls to really ‘be there’ for whoever needs your help.

After all, everyone needs someone they can depend on. Someone they can trust beyond doubt. Someone they can ask for help, whatever the problem, or cry on the shoulder of.

Find additional inspiration and wisdom in this master collection of all family quotes.