What does your fridge door say about your family?

Our take: The author discusses findings in the book "Life at Home in the 21st Century," which suggests the story of the family can be told by looking at the refrigerator door. The author even examines her own refrigerator door and what it seems to be saying: that while living in a chaotic life, she and many Americans tend to want to buy a solution to their clutter, rather than face our problems head on and organize our refrigerator doors and ultimately our lives.

Want to spend some time thinking about who your family is, and how the way you live reflects the way you really want to live, as opposed to the life that youve settled into, somehow, without much thought?

The desire to buy a solution, or just treat yourself to a little material reward, instead of taking the time to do something more difficult or thoughtful, is reflected across many of our houses, including mine. Its in our crowded playrooms, our overstuffed closets, and even in our so-busy schedules. And its apparently displayed prominently on our fridges. Dont think something so seemingly unassuming as the front of our refrigerators can really say something about a large slice of our society? The average family in the study had 55 objects on their fridge surface.

Read more about The family on The New York Times.