family life merit_badge
TRANSCRIPT
Family Life Merit Badge
Field of study: Personal Development
Status: Eagle-Required BSA Advancement ID: 129
Created: 1991 Requirements Revision: 2005
Discontinued: N/A Pamphlet Revision: 2008
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Family Life teaches you…
• What a family is
• How family members affect each other
• How to plan a family project
• How to conduct a family meeting
• What an effective father is
• How to positively contribute to the family
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Today’s Agenda
• Introduction and badge overview
• Your Family
• Why you’re important to your family
• Break 5 minutes
• Your Chores and Duties
• Planning a project
• Break 5 minutes
• Family Meetings
• An effective father
• Wrap-up
• Questions/Project Brainstorming
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How to earn a Merit Badge • Read the entire Merit Badge booklet
• Meet the requirements as stated--no more, no less
– If it says "show or demonstrate," that is what you must do
– Same is true for "make," "list," "in the field," and "collect," "identify," and "label"
• Meritbadge.org
– Requirements, workbooks, reference links (very helpful)
• Use the workbook (not required, but very helpful)
• Listen and participate in class
– Ask questions, request clarification
• The goal is to demonstrate command of the subject
• You may finish the requirements anytime – no time limit
• But, requirements can and do change
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Family Life
Merit Badge Requirements 1. 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.
2. List several reasons why you are important to your family and discuss this with your parents or guardians and with your merit badge counselor.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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
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Family Life Merit Badge Requirements (cont.)
6. 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.
3) Personal and family finances
4) A crisis situation within your family
5) The effect of technology on your family
6) Good etiquette and manners
Discussion of each of these subjects will very likely carry over to more than one family
meeting.
7. 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
b. Your understanding of the responsibilities of a parent
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A family is the basic unit of society
• Strong families are the foundation of strong communities
• Foundation for physical, emotional, social, intellectual
and moral development
– People who live together and care deeply for each
other
– Care for and support each other
– Give and receive love
– Share language, foods, culture, heritage
– Give strength to one another
• As a scout, do your best to make your family strong
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Family Structures
• Basic unit of all societies for all of mankind
• Two parent families / One parent families
• Step families
• Extended families
• Adoptive families
• Long distance families
• Large / small families
– 7-12 or more family members
– Only child or no child
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A family consists of…
• Husband / Wife
• Children
• Step brothers/sisters
• Pets
• Extended family
– Grandparents
– Aunts / Uncles
– Cousins
• Close Family Friends
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One member’s actions affect the entire family
• Love
• Security
• Acceptance & Respect
• Mutual Trust
• Good Relationships & Communication Skills
• Shared Roles & Responsibilities
• Cooperation & Interdependence
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You are important to your family
• Contribute to family safety
• Love
• Help family successes
• Bring joy, humor and happiness to others
• Support and encouragement
• Leadership in the family
• Future of the family
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Everyone is responsible for the care of
the home
• Take out trash / Recycle bins
• Cut grass
• Trim shrubbery
• Vacuum floors
• Retrieve mail
• Wash cars
• Clean bathrooms
• Care of Pets
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Exercise
1. Make an outline of your family
2. List reasons why you’re important
3. Prepare a list of your regular home duties or chores
– At least five
– Do them for 90 days
– Keep a record of how often you do each of them
• Use the attached worksheet or email Mrs. Salaj, [email protected], for an Excel version
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90 Day Chore Worksheet
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Weekly Chore List
Scout Name: Matt Salaj
3/7 - 3/13
Chore/Task Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Make Bed X X X X X X X
Take Out Trash & Recycling X
Set Table X X X X X X X
Feed Pets X X X X X X X
Hamper to Laundry Room X
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A Project is…
• Something unique that hasn’t been done before
– Building a house or a home improvement
– Writing a paper for school
– Yard project
• Specific Start and Finish events (temporary endeavor)
• Undertaken to meet unique goals and objectives
• Usually to bring about beneficial change or added value
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Plan a Project
• Define the project goal
• Describe the project in detail
• Develop a timeline/steps to complete
• List of resources (supplies, tools, labor, etc.)
• Develop a budget for your project
– Cost of resources
– Other costs (permits, food/water, safety equipment,
mileage, etc.)
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Plan a project for you to perform that
benefits your family • Build or create new storage areas
• Organize your closet and dresser drawers
• Paint a room
• Prepare a family meal
• Clean and organize a closet
• Wipe down an appliance inside and out
• Clean the garage, attic or basement
• Bathe a pet
• Do a load of laundry, sort, fold & put away
• Help other family members with their chores
• Help a younger brother or sister with homework
• Read to a younger sibling
• Fix leaky faucets
• Paint window and door trim
• Do one of your dad’s “Honey Do” list items
• Reorganize the pantry
• Roll up carpets and vacuum under them
• Move furniture and vacuum behind and under it
• Wash windows and screens
• Detail a car
• Trim and cut back perennials
• Mulch garden beds
• Rake yard
• Prune trees and shrubs
• Dig up ground for a new garden
• Plant seeds indoors for a vegetable garden and
care for them until time to plant outdoors
• Build and paint birdhouses and birdfeeders
• Edge flower beds
• Build a trellis for the garden
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Plan a project for your family to perform
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• Prepare a week’s worth of family meals
• Build a new vegetable garden
• Create a scrapbook or video of your family’s
history
• Go to a pick your own farm then can, preserve
or freeze fruits and vegetables
• Plan, prepare and conduct a family reunion or
party for a special event
• Plan and conduct a garage sale
• Have a regular family night once a week
• Plant a tree to commemorate a birth or a loss
• Make a list of thoughtful gestures for each
member of the family. Each chooses one
every Sunday and does it during the week.
• Plan, cook and deliver a meal to a person who
is home bound.
• Bake items for a bake sale that benefits a local
organization
• Spruce up a community center by painting,
cleaning, doing yard work, etc.
• Help out at a Food Bank
• Assist with a community beautification project
• Run a bike repair clinic
• Assist at an animal shelter
• Clean and deliver toys to needy children
• Plan a program for people in long-term care
facilities
• Help local citizens put up flags for display
• Volunteer at a local ethnic community festival
to learn about another culture
Project Write-up
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• Plan
– Goal
– What will I do?
– Why am I doing it?
– Who benefits?
– What do I need?
– How will I do it?
– When will I do it?
– Do I have
permission?
• Execution
– What did I do?
– When did I do it?
– How did I do it?
– What did I use?
• Evaluation
– What did I
accomplish?
– How did this make
me feel?
– How does my family
feel about it?
– How did the person
or family as a whole
benefit?
– What worked?
– What would I do
differently?
– How has this
changed the way I
feel about helping my
family?
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Family Meetings
• Scheduled time
• Written agenda
• Appoint a Meeting Leader – rotates to include everyone
• Talk about situations and behavior, not people
• Avoiding sibling “attitudes”
• Stay serious and positive
• Write down family conclusions / each topic
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Topics for Family Meetings:
• Avoiding substance abuse, including
– Tobacco, Alcohol, and Drugs
• All of which negatively affect your health and well-
being
• Understanding the growing-up process
– How the body changes
– Making responsible decisions dealing with sex
• Personal and family finances
• A crisis situation within your family
• The effect of technology on your family
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More on Family Meetings
• Family Crisis Situations
– Medical Emergency
– Death in the family
– Alcoholism / Drug addition
– Missing family member
• Technology impacts the family
– Online Risks
– New safety tools (phones, first alert, smoke/CO2
detectors)
– Staying in touch
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Parent Responsibilities
• Care and upbringing of children
• Guide them from babyhood to adulthood – and beyond
• Parent’s care includes:
– Love
– Safety
– Health (wellness, nutrition, dental care)
– Education
– Life skills
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Being a Father
• The number one priority is family safety
• Sacrifice
– Your fun is being a dad
• Setting an example
– Practicing Scout values
• You’re the lowest priority in the family
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An Effective Father…
• Spends time with each child
• Listens to his son/daughter
• Offers encouragement / builds confidence
• Problem solves
• Calming presence
• Always watching out for safety risks
• Sets an example
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Home Fun
1. Read the Family Life Merit Badge Booklet
2. Plan and carry out a project that benefits your family
3. Keep a journal of chores for 13 weeks
4. Plan and carry out a project that includes your family
5. Conduct a family meeting that covers the topics listed
in the Merit Badge requirements
6. Review each of these with your counselor
7. Finish this in time for the June Court of Honor to
receive your Family Life Merit Badge!
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