For example, in 1964, 90 family specialist representing
public education and community and national agencies were asked to comment
on the following definition by Avery and Lee (1964):
See quote on page 5 of the textbook.
Is it too limited in its assumption about families
or where family life education takes place? Is it too complex?
Arcus et al. (1993) reduced the aims, or rationale,
for family life education to three primary ones: (1) dealing with problems
that impinge upon families, (2) preventing problems, and (3) developing
potentials for individuals and families. In other words, family life
education is a process designed to “strengthen and enrich individual and
family well-being”(p. 12).
Arcus et al. (1993) concluded that family life education
generally:
THE HISTORY OF FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION (Textbook
pg. 8)
On the twenty-ninth
of February, 1703, not long before the break of day, the enemy came in
like a flood upon us…They came to my house in the beginning of the onset,
and by their violent endeavors to break open door and windows, with axes
and hatchets, awaked me out of sleep…I cannot relate the distressing care
I had for my dear wife, who had lain-in but a few weeks before, and for
my poor children, family, and Christian neighbors…Some (of the attackers)
were so cruel and barbarous as to take and carry to the door two of my
children and murder them, as also a Negro woman. (p. 9)
Pretty Shield, a Crow Indian, recalled the expectations of the women in her tribe during the late 1800s:
We women
had our children to care for, meat to cook and to dry, robes to dress,
skins to tan, clothes, lodges and moccasins to make. Besides these
things we not only pitched the lodges, but took them down and packed the
horses and the travois when we moved camp, yes, and we gathered the wood
for our fires too. We were busy, especially when we were going to
move. (Pretty Shield, oral account, 1932, as cited in Bartley & Loxton,
1991, p. 7)
Mathilda Wagner, Texas pioneer, recounted a typical
day:
See quote on page 10 in the
textbook.
Rebecca Felton (1919) recalled life for her grandmother
in rural Georgia:
When my
grandmother’s brood of eleven circled around the big open fireplace in
the evening, knitting work in hand, she understood without doubt, that
she must rise early and work late, start before daylight and endure until
after dark to put clothes on them and keep them with changes and well-fed
for their health’s sake. (p. 41)
While no account is typical, Jennie Webb’s story of her childhood has elements that appear again and again:
See quote on page 11 in the textbook.
Family Education in Nineteenth-Century America
(Textbook
pg. 11)
Miss Catherine Beecher to write A Treatise on Domestic
Economy in 1842. In the preface to the third edition (1858),
she states her concern:
The number
of young women whose health is crushed, ere the first few years of married
life are past, would seem incredible to one who has not investigated this
subject, and it would be vain to attempt to depict the sorrow, discouragement,
and distress experienced in most families where the wife and mother is
a perpetual invalid. (p. 5)
Jane Addams (1860-1935) was—and is—one of the most
successful to be found:
Addams envisioned
the settlement as serving two purposes: It would help the poor “Germans
and Bohemians and Italians and Poles and Russians and Greeks in Chicago,
vainly trying to adjust their peasant habits to the life of a large city,”
while at the same time giving privileged young women a purpose and a place.
(Youcha, 1995, p. 138)
Quoting a well-known educator of the day, George B.
Emmerson, Catherine Beecher (1858) wrote in her nineteenth century text:
It may be
objected that such things cannot be taught by books. Why not?
Why may not the structure of the human body and the laws of health deduced
there-from, be as well taught as the laws of natural philosophy?
Why are not the application of these laws to the management of infants
and young children as important…as the application of the rules of arithmetic
to the extraction of the cube root? (p.7)
The Rise of Professional Organizations (Textbook
pg. 14)
American Home Economics Association (AHEA) officially
formed on January 1, 1909.
Professionals from the fields of sociology and psychology
, The Teachers College of Columbia, the AHEA and others came together for
the Conference on Education for Marriage and Family Social Relations in
1934.
As a result of the above conference, the National
Conference on Family Relations came about. In 1938 it was renamed
the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR; Ikerckhoff, 1964).
Despite getting a later start than the United States
in developing the profession, Canada has moved rapidly. In 1993,
the Canadian Certified Family Educator (CCFE) was established. The
National Committee of Family Service of Canada is working to the further
consolidate family life educators in the country by publishing a newsletter,
Putting Families First, particularly for the educator. Canadian family
life educator Pauline Gross observes: See textbook pg. 16.
Clearly
the significance of Family Life Education and its role sin prevention have
gained acceptance and recognition. More and more families turn to
our programs for help in addressing their current needs and interests,
solving their problems, supporting their aspirations, and enriching the
quality of their lives. (p. 15).
THE MANY FACES OF TODAY’S FAMILIES (Textbook
pg. 17)
Taylor (1994), referring to the work of Simpson and
Yinger (1985), defines minority families as “those families that have historically
experienced social, economic, and political subordination vis-a vis families
of the dominant majority, as a consequence of their race, ancestry, and/or
other characteristics the latter holds in low esteem” (p. 1). In
other words, from a sociological stand point, minority and majority
are not referring necessarily to the size of the population but rather
to a status designation.
SINGLE ADULTS (see textbook page 19)
SINGLE PARENTS (see textbook page 19)
STEPFAMILIES (see textbook page 19)
MOTHERS IN THE WORKFORCE (see textbook page 19)
OLDER AMERICANS (see textbook page 20)
ECONOMIC DISTRESS (see textbook page 20)
FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION
(see textbook page 21)
“We must think of families differently than scholars have in the past,” note family scientists Wesley Burr, Randal Day, and Kathleen Bahr (1993). The propose a new terminology and way of perceiving “the family.” Rather than the narrow definition of the traditional family that has been considered the normative standard, that is, “a cultural unit which contains, a husband and wife who are the mother and father of their child or children: (Schneider, 1980, p. 33), Burr et al. suggest viewing the family as a sphere of one’s life similar to the way one views the spiritual, occupational, or educational aspects of one’s life. The family realm addresses aspects of the human experience that are uniquely tied to procreation and the generational connections that are created by birth or adoption of children and committed unions of adults. The family realm also includes the spatial and emotional relationships that persons develop with those they call “family,” the ability to manage crises together and to show affection and loyalty, and the shared family traditions, rituals, values, and routines that form strong connections.
In predicting future directions for the field, Lewis-Rowley
et al. (1993) foresee four major trends: (see textbook page 22)