Prince Pilot,
You certainly have recieved a lot of great advice here, which I completely support. It sounds as though you're inclined to follow it, and I commend you for that. This forum would thus have served it's most important purpose: Helping a pilot grow a safe attitude.
As for the parachute, approving the installation of such a modification in Canada would be within the scope of my job, but I would be very reluctant to do it. The main reason is that I would have a terrible time trying to figure out how I would draft a Flight Manual Supplement which would describe the precise circumstances under which it should be used. This would be pilot decision making of the highest order. I am confident that a pilot who was so skilled in decision making, would never be in circumstanes where the chute would help.
I've been flying for more than 30 years, and I have never been in a circumstance where I would have considered deploying a chute, if I'd had it. I've never hit the ground when I did not plan to either. Luck? Probably. I pay a lot attention to flying safely though, and avoiding unsafe circumstances. As has been pointed out, the major cause for fatal accidents seems to be controlled flight into terrain, in which case, the chute is of zero use! Aside from airframe ice, I have never heard of a single Cessna becoming unflyable in flight. You'd be amazed how much damage they can tolerate, and still land safely. You should see what a 10 pound goose can do to a Cessna wing!
If you're flying places where you really would not want to have to do a forced approach, either fly higher, fly a twin, or buy a ticket. As for flying the whole family around, I've done it a few times, but I really do not plan my family life so it is necessary. I suggest that you allow yourself to become a much more experienced pilot before you start flying the clan around. That does not mean that you can't take them for a ride one by one, but being husband and dad, as well as pilot, might become too much responsibility all at once for a new pilot. If the whole family has to be somewhere else, as before, buy tickets.
Keep reading here, (but don't take the nonsense seriously), and you'll learn a lot!
Fly safely, it sounds like you're off to a good start!
Pilot DAR