The Role of Home Economics in Family Crisis Management

THE ROLE OF HOME ECONOMICS IN FAMILY CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN ORUMBA NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA

The literature was reviewed under the following headings:

• The causes and types of family crisis in the society.
• The role of Home economics in family crisis management
• Preventive measure to reduce problems of family crisis in the society.

The causes and types of family crisis in the society.

According to Igbo (2010), the core family values have to be upheld and prevented from being eroded by external influences. These external influences are problems which may be caused by humans or other natural occurrences like unemployment or infertility that leads to crisis in the family. Development stems from attitude change. It is the family themselves who bring about development and there can be no change for the better without their participation, mobilizing their capacities and increasing their skills (Ekwo, 2005).

According to Bello (2003), if parents have the right attitude to peace and believe in peace, they should not quarrel or fight in the presence of their children. Home experiences and training greatly influence what a person does later in life and the kind of person he is likely to be, thus women should be up and doing in the moral development and upbringing of their children, instilling discipline and rejecting unwanted behaviours.

Based on the topic, the discussion is on the causes of family crisis in the society. Crises have eaten many heads of human beings and other lower animals in the history of man. Experiencing crisis can be dangerous and deadly. Any society that wine and dine with crisis do not have peace of mind (Uzochukwu, 2014).

According to Orjaku and Ngobili (2005), the family serves as an important socialization agent and has the power to shape the attitudes of the child towards decent human relations. Some of the bad habits show cased by many people today is because the families they come from were built on problems. These problems take many forms and can give birth to other ones if not properly controlled (Uzochukwu, 2014).

Most crimes committed by youths of today are because of the crises they witnessed in their families when they were young and those crises affected them negatively. Some youths that behave abnormal in the present time can be because they lack moral youth empowerment due to family crisis. It was figured out that every crisis can be managed, as much as we want to keep ourselves safe, we can’t protect ourselves from everything. If we want to embrace life, we also have to embrace Chaos (Elizabeth, 2003).

According to Uzochukwu (2014), the causes and types of family crisis are;

• Financial Difficulties: Inadequate finance is a serious problem in the household or family sector. This occurs as a result of socio-economic class placement of one or both partners. When both partners do not have a well paid job that would help them raise money for the upkeep of their children or family, it results to crisis when there is insufficient resources in the home especially for feeding, payment of children’s school fees and clothing. Food insecurity at the household level and inadequate income has moved many women to work outside the home in search of means of alleviating poverty by improving the family’s income. (Akpan 2004).
• Poor Management of Resources: Management is the process of planning, organizing and controlling things in order to achieve a particular goal or goals. The problem that many families are having today is because of poor management of their resources. Many mothers find it difficult to organize their children and husbands. Some crises that occur at home take place immediately after marriages. The man at times spends a lot of money in wedding without having reserve which he will use to support his family. When things become difficult, it can lead to crisis and divorce between the couple. Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success and effective management is discipline and carrying it out (Stephen, 2007)
• Hatred: It simply implies dislike. Hatred can occur between couple after ten to fifteen years of marriage. This hatred can bear fruit in the children, as they grow with it, it may result to exchange of negative words between husband and wife and even the children at large. When this hatred grows from one level to another, the family collapses and crisis takes place. Hatred has caused a lot of problems in the world but has not solved one yet (Maya, 2000).
• Disrespect: This is one of the causes of family crisis. This occurs when the father is unable to perform his duties and responsibilities in the home which include providing for the family’s need and caring for the welfare of the If this is as a result of negligence, the wife may start working hard to perform his husband’s duties ensuring that the family is taken proper care of. Some stubborn children may start insulting their father in common with their mother. This brings two opposing parties in the family and crisis arises. Tugaleva (2005) pointed out that if you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.
• Infertility: It is the wish of every married couple to have babies to call their own as it gives joy to every couple. But if after several years of marriage, there is no conception, problems may arise which may lead to broken home and crisis. If the woman has the physical fitness and the meritorious luck to bear his children, the family becomes fortunate… but if the misfortune lay solely on the woman’s part, as such, a childless woman often becomes culprit for her entire life. (Rajapakse, 2014).
• Academic Qualification: Crisis can arise in the family between husband and wife when one is more educated than the other and earns more salary than the other. If the wife is more educated, she may use her education in taking advantage of her husband. She may insult him and this may result to misunderstanding or quarreling which can also cause divorce. If only we were all better educated, higher education would at least be a journey for skills and knowledge rather than for power and status. (Jami, 2016).
• Rules: A rule is a set of instruction that governs a group of persons or organization. The family being an organization of father, mother and children has codes of conducts governing them. The problem is that there are parallelisms between the rules set by a mother and that set by a father in family. The father may like to train the children with his own rules while the mother instructs that her own is to be followed. This results to misunderstanding between the husband and wife as there is no coherence in the rules. The children who obey that of the mother and fail with that of the father continuously receive punishment…. It is not that they are too bold to endure rules but it is rather that they are timid to endure their responsibilities (Chesterton, 2007).
• Retirement: This is leaving of one’s job when he or she comes to a particular age by the law guiding the community. Retirement of worker from office can be one of the causes of family crisis as money does not flow the way it uses to flow. Notwithstanding the pension paid to some retired workers, it is usually small for him to use it in sponsoring his family. Due to limited money, misunderstanding may arise in the family. It sometimes gets to the extent where fight is experienced in families in the course of sharing the pension paid to the retired man. The biggest mistake that most people make when it comes to their retirement is they do not plan for it…. (Singer, 2011).
• Drug taking: Married persons should detach themselves from taking of hard drugs because it does harm to effective home administration. Any couple that takes drugs behaves abnormal and it can lead to continuous fight in the family. The man may go outside take hard drugs, get himself drunk and comes back home to beat up his wife, acting under the influence of hard drugs and alcohol. People who use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably, painful or dull, hate their work and find no rest in their leisure…. (Berry, 2003).
• Crime: Engaging in criminal acts by father, mother or the children is a big blow on the face of any family. Oxford concise English Dictionary defines crime as an action which constitutes a serious offence against an individual or the state and it is punishable by law. When a father in a family gets involved in a crime and gets imprisoned for years, the children in the family will not receive fatherly care and this can affect their behaviour. The non-mannered behaviour showcased by these children can always cause crisis in the family. Sometimes the crime follows a punishment, which only serves to prove the foresight of the great God….(Pratchett, 2005).

The Role of Home Economics in Family Crisis Management

According to (Olaitan 2000, Osuala and Okorie 2004) Home economics is a board field of study that draws knowledge from many  disciplines including science and humanities in order to fulfill its objectives . Being a subject that focuses on the welfare of individuals, families and societies, Home economics contributes meaningfully to the solutions of the problems of the society such as unemployment, poverty, infertility which can lead to family crisis in the society.

According to Anyakoha (2000), Home economics is a unique and dynamic field of study. Its central theme is the improvement of the lives of individuals, families and the society in general.

Home economics has played a vital role in family crisis management. It deals with all the aspect of family living and draws knowledge from many disciplines such as biological, physical, social sciences, arts and humanities, it unifies the knowledge drawn and uses them to teach how to manage the affairs of individuals, the family and the society at large in order to eliminate problems that will lead to crisis in the family and catastrophe in the society. It also seeks to help the individual, the home and family, and the community in general to build a strong and self-reliant society (Okeke, 2009).

According to (Abazu 2010 and Okeke 2009), the role of Home economics in family living to help reduce the problem of family crisis and improve family crisis management in the society includes;

• It educates the individual for family living through the areas of Family/Marriage relationship and Home management, so as to know how to coordinate and manage the family in order to eliminate the problem of misunderstanding, disrespect and other forms of crisis in the family. (Okeke, 2009.
• Home economics improves the services and goods used by the families (Anyakoha & Eluwa, 2010), through the area of Home management, which teaches the management of family resources to enhance the family’s income and eliminate the problem of financial difficulties that leads to family crisis.
• Through the application of scientific principles from biology which teaches family planning and provides control to child spacing, inadequate family planning and uncontrolled child spacing which are one of the causes of family crisis, is moderately reduced in families. This is achieved through the philosophy of Home economics that encourages the acquisition of knowledge applied for purposeful living (Anyakoha, 2000)
• It teaches discipline and discovers the changing needs of individuals and families with the aid of satisfying these needs (Okeke, 2009). This helps to reduce the problem of lack and want, with poverty that leads to divorce and family crisis in the society.
• Through the area of family living, Home economics prepares youths for home making and family life to establish fruitful and happy family relationship among family members (Abazu, 2010). This helps to promote crisis-free families in the society.
• It generates knowledge from the artistic fields, such as design, dress making and cookery to prepare individuals for employment and provide job opportunities that requires knowledge and skills in Home economics (Okeke, 2009). This is to eliminate the problem of crime caused through unemployment in youths that usually leads to crisis in the family and catastrophe in the society.

Such job opportunities acquired through Home economics skills include bread-making, preparation of snacks, roasting meat or chickens, preparation of cakes, buns and fruit drinks. Youths can also be involved in confectionary production from local foods through the skills they have acquired (Osuala, 2000). Women in rural areas can engage in hawking and canteen services which can be practiced in various forms with brand names such as food-is-ready by the road side, the wheel barrow mobile food service (Olaitan et al, 2000). This will also help to generate income for the family.

• Home economics encourages individual and families on the need to preserve the customs and traditions of the society which can serve to enrich the nation (Okeke, 2009). If the rules and regulation or norms of every given society is strictly adhered to and the parents, youth, children are guided accordingly, the problems of family crisis will be totally eliminated from the society. This will also help the people develop mutual understanding and appreciation of different culture with their ways of life, thereby bringing co-operation among people of other cultures to raise levels of living (Abazu, 2010).

According to Ogbene et al (2006), Home economics as a vocational subject is aimed at helping people develop desirable social attitude and skills necessary for the world of work, resourcefulness and ability to adapt to life’s changing situation in the family.

Home economics is self-reliance. Its central theme is hinged on the improvement of the lives of everyone in the family and in the management of crisis that arises in any given family in our various societies. All these have been shown to be related as the role of Home economics in family crisis management.

Preventive Measures to Reduce Problem of Family Crisis in the Society.

According to Anyakoha (2002), the greatest challenges of Home economics is to determine those issues that pose various forms of challenges and threats to individuals, families and society at large and then address them most appropriately. The family serves as an important socialization agent and has the power to shape the attitudes of the child towards decent human relations. (Orjaku and Ngobili, 2005).

According to Igbo (2010), Core family values have to be upheld and prevented from being eroded by external influences. Values are generally what individuals, families and societies hold to be right, true and desirable and therefore create norms which are rules for behaviour and lifestyles. Positive values such as hardwork, honesty, love , respect for elders, services, loyalty, communal living should be encouraged, while negative values like stealing , corruption, prostitution, dishonesty, cheating etc. should be highly discouraged. These positive values have to be adhered to in the family to prevent or reduce the problem of family crisis in the society.

According to Uzochukwu (2014), the preventive measure or the solution to the causes of family crisis includes;

• Preventive Measures to Financial Difficulties

To prevent the problem of financial difficulties that leads to family crisis, couple should plan themselves after marriage on how to manage their home. They should both work hand in hand to see that the family is progressing. They should also plan on the number of children to produce in order to prevent financial stress due to uncontrolled child spacing that may lead to family crisis.  Couple should try to understand that marriage is “for better for worse”, so no matter the financial stress they may be undergoing, they should learn to manage themselves. The wife should also have a job to earn from so as to support her husband financially. As a woman, you are better off in life, earning your own money…, but you could have some of your dignity if you don’t have to beg your husband for financial support. (Ali, 2007).

• Preventive Measures to Poor Management

To avoid family crisis due to poor management, both the husband and wife need to have good idea of management. They are to make good plans and organize everything about their life properly. Good management will make their family to last until death do them part. Being in control of their life and having realistic expectations about their day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life. (Henner, 2006).

• Preventive Measures to Hatred

Husband and wives should develop their minds to love and easily forgive each other. The offense committed by one partner against the other is to be forgiven and forgotten before the next day. It will enhance building of stronger family instead of divided one. Life is not a bed of roses but full of obstacles. When one is hurt, he or she should forgive. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong (Gandhi 2005).

• Preventive Measure to Disrespect

The solution to the problem of disrespect centres on understanding between husband, wife and the children. All wives married in different families should build understanding and admit their husbands, irrespective of the problems they are facing. No wife or children should Rate the man of the family low or see him as being incompetent. Simplicity should be adopted among family members. Even if any is wronged, one should simply forgive the other. To err is human, to forgive, divine. (Alexander, 2004).

• Preventive Measures to Infertility

To prevent or reduce the problem of infertility, couple should meet a medical doctor for help, if a problem like this comes into play. Sometimes when life doesn’t work out as planned, there is a greater force at work. (Deanna, 2013). This is the more reason why they should pray to God, seek advice from loved ones and have faith that one day all will be well.

• Preventive Measures to the Problem Caused by Academic Qualification

In the case of problem of academic qualification, families are advised to work together and train their children to avoid blaming anybody in future. When a child appears to be naturally unintelligent after many efforts have been put to sharpen his or her intelligent quotient, and there is no improvement, he or she can be shifted to another field to learn something else that can help him or her in the future. All members of the family is to lay low, no matter the qualification possessed. Life is not only about acquiring knowledge, it is about applying knowledge (Kalantri, 2012)

• Preventive Measures to the Problems of Rule Making

In the case of rule making, all in a family should come together and agree on better rules that will guide the family to avoid disparity. The rules of both are to be analyzed by someone who is close to the family to come out with better and good one. Rules and responsibilities are the ties that binds us….(Gaiman, 2006).

• Preventive Measures to the Problem Caused by Retirement

To prevent misunderstanding or limited money in the family due to retirement, fathers and mothers should invest when they are still active in the organizations they work to avoid crisis in their family. This will make them to have good reserve to train their children properly to any level they want to attain. The goal of retirement is to live off your assets, not on them. (Eberhart, 2009).

• Preventive Measures to Drug Taking

In order to prevent drug taking among members of the family, serious counseling and teaching is to be given to them. At times, hard drug acts as magnet to those that take it. Any member of the family that takes hard drugs is to be guided accordingly until he or she stops it. If the person follows any bad friends, reasons and convictions are to be given to him on why he should quite. Drugs are a waste of time. They destroy the memory and one’s self-respect with everything that goes along with one’s self esteem (Cobain, 2010).

• Preventive Measures to the Problem of Crime

To prevent crime in the family, the father, mother and the children should do everything possible to abstain from crime as it can paint the image of any family black. If it is friends or relation that pushes them to commit any offence, that relationship should come to an end. All men makes mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride (Sophocles, 2005).

Other preventive measures to family crisis in the society include parental control and massive campaign against family crisis by the government.

SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW

Family crisis is also known as problems which may be caused by humans or other natural occurrences. Experiencing crisis can be dangerous and deadly. These problems take many forms and can give birth to other ones if not properly controlled. (Uzochukwu, 2014). The causes of family crisis includes; financial difficulties, poor management, infertility, hatred, inadequate rule making, unplanned retirement, academic qualification, drug taking, disrespect and crime.

The role of Home economics in family crisis management includes the application of the areas of Home economics like Home Management, Family/Marriage relationship to educate individuals on how to coordinate and manage the family in order to eliminate the problems of disrespect, poor management and other forms of family crisis in the society. Home economics teaches discipline and provides the knowledge on how to manage the family’s income to help eliminate the problem of financial difficulties that leads to family crisis. It also provides job opportunities through Home economics skills like bakery, dress making, weaving, hair dressing, fashion and designing, to improve the family’s income, thereby eliminating the problem of crime caused by unemployment, which can lead to family crisis.

In this, there are some preventive measures to family crisis in the society which includes love, proper and effective management, respect, cooperation. Members of the family are advised to stay away from drug taking and crime which are also causes of family crisis in the society.

Finally, a happy home is that which lives in peace and harmony and answers “absence” to any form of family crisis. Promoting campaigns like workshop and programmes on the role of Home economics in family crisis management will also help to reduce the problem.