Family Life
Study-aids are listed after requirements
Get worksheets at usscouts.org
Get worksheets at usscouts.org
2015 Requirements
- Prepare an outline on what a family is and discuss this with your merit badge counselor. Tell why families are important to individuals and to society. Discuss how the actions of one member can affect other members.
individuals: "Family is the single most important influence in a child's life. From their first moments of life, children depend on parents and family to protect them and provide for their needs. Parents and family form a child's first relationships. They are a child's first teachers and act as role models in how to act and how to experience the world around them... Children thrive when parents are able to actively promote their positive growth and development."
source: smartbeginningsmhc.org/Why-is-family-support-important-.html
society: "The family is the nucleus of civilization and the basic social unit of society... For a civilization to succeed, the family must succeed... If we have stronger families we will have stronger schools, stronger churches, and stronger communities with less poverty and less crime. The family is the linchpin of society, both economically and socially."
source: nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/24/are-family-values-outdated/stronger-families-stronger-societies
"The role of the family in society is also significant, because the family is the transmitting unit of the values of a culture for the next generation. When children learn the right ways to behave and handle themselves at home, then they are more likely to contribute effectively to society and have a content, productive life. Families that do not transmit those values do a disservice to society." source: ask.com/family/families-important-individuals-society-dd7c4a7cb962f4bf - List several reasons why you are important to your family and discuss this with your parents or guardians and with your merit badge counselor.
Along with your own ideas, you may want to consider these thoughts:
"In our daily experiences with children, we discover they are most perceptive and often utter profound truths. Charles Dickens, the author of the classic A Christmas Carol, illustrated this fact when he described the humble Bob Cratchit family assembling for a rather meager but long-anticipated Christmas dinner. Bob, the father, was returning home with his frail son Tiny Tim upon his shoulder. Tiny Tim “bore a little crutch, and had his limbs supported by an iron frame.” Bob’s wife asked of him, “And how did little Tim behave?”
“‘As good as gold,’ said Bob, ‘and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.’” (Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol and Cricket on the Hearth, New York: Grosset and Dunlop, n.d., pp. 50–51.)
Charles Dickens himself said, “I love these little people, and it is not a slight thing when they who are so fresh from God love us.”
quoted by Thomas S. Monson Precious Children - A Gift from God
"children are the future for the world"
source: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070613200157AAy7x4V
"They are a source of joy..."
"They are expected to take care of their parents in old age."
source: https://www.kenyaplex.com/questions/5359-why-are-children-important-in-a-traditional-african-family.aspx
"And [Jesus] took a child … in his arms [and] said …
“Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth … him that sent me.”
--Jesus (Mark 9:36-37)
"If we had no children then there would be no future generations. Then what would happen?"
source: http://acadianroots.blogspot.com/2009/04/why-children-are-important.html - Prepare a list of your regular home duties or chores (at least five) and do them for 90 days. Keep a record of how often you do each of them. Discuss with your counselor the effect your chores had on your family.
Chore chart (Excel spreadsheet) Chore chart (PDF for print) - With the approval of your parents or guardians and your merit badge counselor, decide on and carry out a project that you would do around the home that would benefit your family. Submit a report to your merit badge counselor outlining how the project benefited your family.
- Plan and carry out a project that involves the participation of your family. After completing the project, discuss the following with your merit badge counselor:
a. The objective or goal of the project
b. How individual members of your family participated
c. The results of the project
Sample project ideas - Do the following:
a. Discuss with your merit badge counselor how to plan and carry out a family meeting.
b. After this discussion, plan and carry out a family meeting to include the following subjects:
1. Avoiding substance abuse, including tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, all of which negatively affect your health and well-being
2. Understanding the growing-up process and how the body changes, and making responsible decisions dealing with sex*
*This conversation may take place with only one or both of your parents or guardians.
3. How your chores in requirement 3 contributed to your role in the family
4. Personal and family finances
5. A crisis situation within your family
6. The effect of technology on your family
7. Good etiquette and manners
Discussion of each of these subjects will very likely carry over to more than one family meeting. - Discuss the following with your counselor:
a. Your understanding of what makes an effective father and why, and your thoughts on the father's role in the family
scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0103/d-famt.html Archived
b. Your understanding of the responsibilities of a parent.
slide 37 of www.slideshare.net/rockmarttroop23/family-life-merit-badge lists the following suggestions:
-Take care of physical needs
-Provide love and emotional support
-Offer guidance and discipline
-Provide protection
-Provide economic support
-Taking care of health-care needs
-Sharing your time, talent and ideas
-Teaching independence & responsibility
-Providing educational & recreational experiences
-Teaching values & social skills
-Nurturing spiritual well-being
-Preserving Cultural traditions