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SECTION NINE
ATTAINMENT TARGET THREESKILLS APPROPRIATE TO THE LIFE OF A BAHÁ’Í
b. FAMILY SKILLS
It is not an exaggeration to say that the institution of the family is under considerable strain at this time. The signs are clear for all to see: galloping divorce rates, soaring illegitimacy, teenage run-aways, junior-age murderers and so on. Rapid changes in lifestyle, partly brought about by technological advances, have aggravated the long-recognised generation gap. In a sense, children have never been in such a different world to their parents as now. Extended networks of relatives have broken up as more people eschew marriage for temporary partnerships and as more children are born as only children to single mothers.
Fewer people are learning the skills necessary to operate successfully within a family because fewer people are exposed to the experience of growing up in a successful and stable one. And, as the family is the basic building-block of society, the first agent of socialisation, its collapse means the more rapid disintegration of society.
Bahá’í families are naturally subject to the same pressures, and the extent to which they are able to withstand them is the extent to which the individual members of those families are able to acquire and use the skills to be found in the sacred writings of the Cause.
Children and young people must be helped to obtain and practise the skills which will make them successful family members, whether as supportive children for siblings and parents, or as empathetic and sharing partners, or as loving and responsible parents. Without stable Bahá’í families, Bahá’í communities cannot function properly, and without dynamic and loving Bahá’í communities, the Faith will not attract the masses.
Programme of Study for Family Skills
The family as the basis of society - the first unity
The family as a life-long commitment
The generations within a family
The wider family and relations
Family pride and its enhancement
Child
Duties and rights of a Bahá’í child
How to exercise them wisely
Being a good daughter / son
Being a good brother / sister
Adolescent
Coming of age
Choosing a partner for life
Courtship and preparation for marriage
Keeping the balance of integration and independence
Living alone
Adult
Marriage
Being a good marriage partner
Child rearing
Duties and rights of a Bahá’í parent
Making a Bahá’í home
Allocation of responsibilities
Family decision-making
Family leisure activities
Family worship
Balancing family and other commitments
Encouragement and reward
Training and punishment
Enhancing family life
Equality in the family
Coping with bereavement, disabilities, divorce, etc.
The idea of the family as a sacred institution to preserve and promote.
Arranging activities, events and programmes in which all the members of the family can participate together
Allowing every family member room to be themselves and to contribute their uniqueness
KEY STAGE APPROPRIACY
KS 0, KS 1: Here family skills might chiefly be approached through family trees, meaning of names, and simple activities which engender awareness of and loyalty to the family, etc.
KS 2: Here family skills might be approached through projects such as family scrap books, and the skills appropriate to the child.
KS 3: Here these may be approached with greater sophistication and gradually moving into adolescent and adult considerations.
KS 4: Enable students to be confident in exercising all family skills at a basic but effective level in those real life situations where they might be expected to participate and to be able to assist others in acquiring those same skills.
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