Call it brutal honesty, but that's an inevitable trait of most families. Family members would usually not hesitate to tell/remind each other how ugly/fat/stupid/smelly/dirty/'fill-in-anything-that's-negative-here' they are. However irrelevant to the present circumstances, family members would never resist an opportunity to take a jibe at another member of the family. For instance:
Scenario A:
Boy accidentally kicks a chair which was in the way, thus making a din:
Mom: Look at you?! So fat...(while sisters snigger in the background)
Scenario B:
Mom (to daughter): You're so fat and ugly, how are you ever going to find a boyfriend/husband?
Scenario C:
Son (to Mom while trying to explain something): You're so stupid!
There seems to be no lack of derogatory terms to describe each other when it comes to family. But really, what happened to tact, or simple politeness and consideration when communicating with your own family members? Aren't they supposed to be the closest people to one's heart? Maybe that's the problem. Rarely do we witness things like that happening among friends because friends can be lost, but family members can't. Which explains why half the time we take our families for granted. Hence, we are less patient with them, less tactful with them, less considerate towards them. I think the best judge of a person's character is to see how he/she acts at home towards his/her family members.
Often times, do we pause to consider the fact that whatever we say may be hurtful? Why is it that we practice this more in the presence of friends and outsiders, but not with the people who are closest to us? Maybe we think that as family, we won't bear any grudges against each other, or that we won't take to heart what is being said in passing. I wouldn't know. All I'm aware of is that everyone is susceptible to being hurt by remarks like "You're ugly" or "You're fat" or "You're stupid". The victims may not act like they are affected by what is being said, but repeatedly re-iterating these comments will obviously lead to a buildup of hurt, frustration, and anger. Like I said, EVERYONE is susceptible to being hurt, unless one is pathologically narcissistic to the highest degree.
People may say that it isn't true and that they respect their family members alot. Yet I coined 'blatant honesty' as the inevitable trait of every family at the beginning of this entry. But with honesty comes tact. One cannot do without the other. So why is it that we tend to be more tactful when it comes to honesty among friends, yet we do not carry that standard at home? Perhaps it ties back to how we take our families for granted, thereby leading to a lack of patience at home with our family members, hence, we are prone to bouts of impatience when speaking to them, and we lack the patience to come up with a tactful comment and instead, choose to shoot our mouths off. It becomes an issue of concern when we let our mouths run off without our brains. Yet some people say that honesty is the best policy, and that it helps to build one another up by being honest with them so that they can recognize their shortcomings and right what's wrong. Of course, by all means, be honest. Don't get me wrong. Being honest is a good thing. It's HOW you go about being honest that is essential. Parents often think that by reminding their child how "stupid" or "dumb" they are whenever they bring home a test score lower than what is expected of them, they will help motivate and push the child to work harder in his studies. I got that alot when I was younger. Small wonder why kids grow up with a lack of confidence and low self-esteem. It all stems from the opinions thrown in their faces at home. They may not see it as it may not be apparent at the time, but constant re-iteration of negativities in a person's life would naturally affect how a person grows up to be, how a person views the world, and how a person carries and passes this view on to the next generation. It's scary how all these would repeat in a vicious cycle as each generation passes on and a new generation rises.
Sometimes I wonder whether I would be as in-your-face with my kids. But no one can really predict what's going to happen in the future. I may say all these with conviction, yet practice may not always imitate theory. I guess we should all be consciously aware of how we speak at home, no matter what. Family members have a tendency to gripe more on our nerves than outsiders. For that I have no explanation, except for the fact that we live with them for the most part of our lives, and that we tend to be less tolerant of our family members than of outsiders. That's probably the reason why it is a challenge to be constantly alerted to how we carry ourselves at home as well. Maybe this is a problem that cannot be eliminated, but hopefully with time, we may erase it progressively. 
Play Sudoku
Listen to 'The Monkey Song'