2003
Volunteer Leader Training Guide
Family Survival in the 21st Century
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Handouts & Visuals
Audience
AEHC club members, other civic group/club members, paraprofessionals, parents
and individuals working with or concerned about the well-being of children,
youth and families.
Goals
- Provide a definition of resiliency.
- Identify traits of strong individuals, families and communities.
- Identify ways resiliency can be enhanced.
Objectives
The participant will:
- Define resiliency.
- Identify traits of strong individuals, families and communities.
- Identify activities that will enhance strengths in children, youth,
families and communities.
Teaching Points
- Individual, family and community strengths which contribute to
resiliency have been identified and can be strengthened.
- Traits of strong individuals, families and communities include:
commitment, connectedness, efficacy, cohesion, adaptability, communication,
spirituality, time together, individual assets, community support.
- Resiliency is the capacity to cultivate strengths to positively meet the
challenges of life.
Materials Needed
- Flip chart and markers or a blank transparency and marker to list group
comments
- Three transparencies from masters included in leader guide (Traits of
Strong Families, Resiliency Is… and I’m Somebody)
- Handout (Traits of Strong Families) from master included in leader guide
- Eight 3x5 or 4x6 note cards with one of the following words/phrases
written on each card: commitment, connectedness, efficacy, cohesion,
adaptability, communication, spirituality, time together
- Pencil or pen for each participant
Time
20-30 minutes
Introduction: 10 minutes
Teaching Points 1 and 2: 15-20 minutes
Teaching Point 2: 2 minutes
Closing: 1 minute
Family Survival in the 21st Century
Introduction: (10 minutes)
Say: Hello. I am __________________. I am the volunteer leader for
today’s lesson entitled: "Family Survival in the 21st Century".
Have any of you watched any of the "survival" programs on television? They do
some pretty amazing things to survive.
It seems as if families today may also need to be pretty amazing to survive
the challenges they face in the 21st century.
When I grew up, life was a lot different. I remember my family:
Note to Leader: Share a special memory you have of the family in which
you were raised: going on picnics, family reunions, reading by the fire and
playing games with brothers and sisters.
Do Activity 1: Roll Call.
Option 1: If group is small, ask each to introduce themselves and tell
a special memory they have about the family in which they grew up.
Option 2: If group is too large for every one to share, ask a few
volunteers to share.
Say: Our lesson today is about families and the ways families can be
strengthened in today’s world.
Teaching Point 1: Individual, family and community traits or strengths
which contribute to resiliency have been identified and can be strengthened.
Teaching Point 2: Traits of strong individuals, families and
communities include: commitment, connectedness, efficacy, cohesion,
adaptability, communication, spirituality, time together, individual assets,
community support.
Say: Across the face of America, rugged mountains stand strong against
assaults of wind and fire and water. Vast plains yield surpluses of fruits and
grains. In cities and communities, sky-scrapers stretch to awesome heights while
high-tech communication networks operate at superhuman speeds. In the natural
and man-made world, size, speed, productivity and power all seem to mean
strength. Our families, even life itself, seem fragile by comparison.
Americans and American families have always shown a remarkable ability to be
flexible and to adjust to the natural, economic and social challenges that come
their way. Their strengths resemble the elasticity of a spider web, a gull’s
skillful flow with the wind, the regenerating power of perennial grasses, the
cooperation of an ant colony and the persistence of a stream wearing canyon
rock.
These are not the strengths of fixed monuments, but of living organisms.
These traits are not measured by wealth, muscle or efficiency, but by
creativity, hope and unity. Cultivating these individual and family strengths is
critical to a thriving human community.
Ask: What are the traits that enable individuals to face the daily
challenges that are so much a part of contemporary life?
What are the characteristics of families that help them to deal with the
crisis they encounter?
What are the strengths of communities that allow them to provide support and
sustenance to children, youth and families?
Allow time for participants to name traits, characteristics or strengths that
help individuals, families or communities positively meet the challenges of
life.
List traits shared by participants on a flip chart or overhead for all
to see.
Note to presenter: Traits, characteristics or strengths that may be
noted include:
- Commitment
- Connectedness
- Cohesion
- Efficacy
- Adaptability
- Communication
- Spirituality
- Time together
- Individual assets
- Community support
Say: Many of the traits and strengths you listed are similar to those
that researchers have identified.
Use Visual 1: Traits of Strong Families
Some of the traits of strong families identified by the experts are:
- Commitment. Working toward shared goals through self-sacrifice,
persistence and loyalty to other family members; cultivating an environment
of trust and dependability.
- Connectedness. Receiving support from and contributing to
extended family, neighborhood and community, resulting in a sense of
belongingness as well as accountability to others.
- Efficacy. Acting with self-confidence and self-reliance,
translating optimism into making a difference in improving themselves and
their world.
- Cohesion. Maintaining family identity and togetherness, balancing
family priorities with support for member esteem and achievement, producing
strong family bonds and freedom for individual self-expression.
- Adaptability. Coping with change, balancing stable roles and
traditions with flexibility to change rules and share decisions.
- Communication. Engaging in clear, open, affirming speaking and
consistent, empathetic listening, leading to constructive conflict
management and problem solving.
- Spirituality. Believing in a higher power and acting on a value
system beyond self-interest, affecting a sense of purpose and divine support
in everyday and difficult events.
- Time Together. Creating daily routines as well as special
traditions and celebrations that affirm members, connect them to family
roots and add creativity and humor to ordinary events.
Distribute
Handout 1: Traits of Strong Families
Do Activity 2: Family Resiliency
1. Divide into groups of 2 to 3.
2. Give each group a note card with one of the eight traits of strong
families written on it.
3. Ask groups to identify and write on the back of the card an activity an
individual, family or community might do to enhance or strengthen this trait.
4. After about 10 minutes, have the groups share the activities they
identified.
Teaching Point 3:Resiliency is the capacity to cultivate strengths to
positively meet the challenges of life.
Say: These traits are what allow individuals and families and
communities to deal with the challenges and crises they face.
Use
Visual 1: Resiliency Is….
We call this resiliency. Remember, resiliency is the capacity to cultivate
strengths to positively meet the challenges of life.
Closing: (1 minute)
Use
Visual 2: Traits of Strong Families
Say: Individuals, families and communities working together can make a
difference. They can create enrichment and support groups for all ages. They can
strengthen schools. They can organize taskforces for safe, healthy, drug-free
neighborhoods. They can support families as they strive for self-reliance. And,
they can use community problems to heal and strengthen, rather than ignore or
punish, other families in the community.
Each of us can make a difference for our own family and our community. As
with many of us, I’ve often asked, when I hear of a problem in our community:
Visual 3: "I asked, ‘Why doesn’t somebody do something.’ Then I
realized, I was somebody!"
Say: Think about what you can do to strengthen your family and your
community…after all, you are somebody, too!
Sarah L. Anderson, Ed.D., CFCS, Professor and
Extension Family Life Specialist,
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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