Last Updated on July 20, 2023 by Emma White
A society can grow and develop when the family system in that society is strong. Every generation needs to pass on family and societal values to the next generation to preserve their culture and raise such individuals who place family values and relationships at the very center. If you want to ensure that you develop a better understanding of family members, every person’s role in the family, their roles in society, etc., then you should go for family education.
Family education or family life education is a community-based and preventative style of education that enables families to build healthy relationships and move forward in society. Family education programs include teaching families about things such as parenting, sexuality, gender, health, societal norms, culture, work-family issue, finances, etc. This shows the significance of choosing family education.
The best part is nowadays, online learning is prevalent, and many famous colleges in different states offer online education programs that people enroll in. For example, 31% of undergraduates in Nebraska were enrolled in distance education programs in postsecondary institutions, etc.
With family life education, family members gain skills and knowledge to improve their well-being and interpersonal relationships. Family life education is the mental, emotional, economic, physical, moral, and psychological development of the family. It doesn’t only increase the individual well-being of the family members, but it enhances the family’s social well-being too.
If you are interested in a family education program, you can enroll in an online program offered by a renowned college. For example, if you reside in Nebraska, you can search online for the best online colleges in Nebraska that offer distance education opportunities.
Objectives of Family Life Education:
- To educate the family members about social values and beliefs
- To enable youth to better navigate the physical changes in the body with growing age and also to adjust to the emotional, physical, and mental changes that are a part of growing up
- To educate families about the relationship between family, personality, and the development of society
- To highlight the importance of family life, strong family structure, roles and responsibilities of every family member, and sound family system to lead a happy family life
- To provide counseling services to families, especially to young married couples who are planning to start a family
- To promote and protect maternal health and child health
- To teach the youth how they can create and maintain healthy relationships with friends, family, loved ones, etc.
Benefits of Family Life Education:-
1. Better Understanding of Family Life Cycle:
The family life cycle is pervasive. Thus, with new phases of this cycle, there also arises the need for new learning methods. In the past, informal learning methods were used to understand the family life cycle. These informal ways included seeking advice from peers, reading, reflecting on personal experiences, observing, etc. Now these ways are not enough to properly understand the family life cycle.
Family life education fulfills all your learning needs through formal learning programs and activities. For example, to promote better standards of living and control population growth, many countries have established National Programs of Planned Parenthood.
2. Enhances Decision-Making Skills In Children:
Children are our future; they are going to be future leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, policymakers, etc. And we need to raise them to be strong, independent, and decisive adults. Parents cannot be around their children all the time; the majority of the time, kids are on their own and have to make their own decisions. If a child doesn’t have strong decision-making skills, it’s easier for them to get under others’ bad influence.
Family education equips adolescents with decision-making skills so that they are always ready to tackle any challenge that comes their way. As children grow up, they face different health-related challenges, and they must make decisions regarding their bodies and health based on their judgment instead of peer pressure.
3. Helps Understand Your Role in the Family:
The family structure and family functions in the past were completely different. With the changes in societies, family functions have also evolved quickly and greatly. That’s why the rules and standards of living a happy and healthy family life of the past generations are not applicable today. The roles of adults in family settings have changed now. Women can now be the sole bread earners of a family, while the men can be stay-at-home dads. Thus, parents need to reexamine their role in the family and understand how to accommodate the demands of the changing family functions and structure.
The needs of children in today’s generation are not the same as the needs of children of previous generations. A family life education program helps all family members, especially adults, to better understand their role in the modern family structure and also to better understand the changing needs of kids.
4. Educational Role In the Future:
If you enroll in a family life education program, you can work in an educational role in the future by becoming a family life educator. Family is something that has always existed and will always exist. And as long as there is a family structure in society, there will be a need for family life educators. Family is a way of a basic social grouping of human beings, but there isn’t a single or universal family structure.
There are different family functions and structures, which means each family is unique, and each family needs an educator that can help them according to their needs and preferences and family structure. Families can be joint, nuclear, extended, monogamous, patriarchal, matriarchal, etc. The role of the family life educator is a dynamic one, as the functions and structure of families are always in transition.
Conclusion
Strong, healthy families are the building blocks of society. Family members must have critical skills and knowledge that can enable them to thrive individually and also as a team. With the development in societies like industrialization, urbanization, awareness about reducing gender inequalities, etc., a lot of things about family systems have changed, and now there are no fixed or stereotypical roles in a family. That is why there is a need for a community-based education that allows all the family members to get a better understanding of each other and especially enables the youth to better understand the evolved world around them.
