Family needs, goals and standards

Family needs are the things that are essential for the family’s physical, emotional, mental and social health. Wants, on the other hand, are those things which the family desire even though they are not essential for the health and well being of the family.

Types of Family Needs

1. Basic/Primary Needs

These are very important needs in the family which the family cannot do without. They are needed by family members for survival. They are:

(i) Food

(ii) Clothing

(iii) Shelter

(iv) Health care

2. Secondary Needs

These are those things the family wants. They are not as important as the primary needs. This implies that the family can continue to exist without the provision of secondary needs.

Examples of secondary needs are: Pocket money for the family members, extra clothing, family car, etc.

Meaning of Family Goals and Standards

Family goals are specific purposes or objectives the family has in mind, e.g. building a house, buying a car, providing good education for the children etc.

Standards are measures of quality, quantity, and method of goal attainment. They are used to measure the value of something, such as an activity (e.g. standard of living). Standards are what a person or a family will accept as good and worthwhile. For instance, to pass a home economics examination could be your goal but to obtain an A instead of a C is your standard. So this standard then acts as your limit and will influence your action because of the satisfaction you hope to get from it. Thus you are forced to work hard for an A.

The standards set by a family influence their use of resources. For instance, providing three meals a day can be the goal of the family, but the standard could be that the meals must be balanced and served on the dining table.

EVALUATION

1. Differentiate between family needs and wants.
2. Explain the three basic human needs.
3. Define (a) goals (b) standards.

FAMILY GOALS AND STANDARDS

CONTENT

1. Types of Family Goals
2. Types of Family Standards
3. Relationship Among Family Needs, Goals and Standards
4. Uses of Family Needs, Goals and Standards in Resource Management

Types of Family Goals

Family goals can be classified according to the time needed to achieve them as follows:

1. Long-term goals:These are big family goals which take a very long period of time to achieve, e.g. building a house, buying a car, saving money for retirement, having healthy children, and providing good education for the children. These long-term goals influence the other types of goals set by the family.
2. Short-term or intermediate goals:These are goals set up as means of achieving the long-term goals. They take less time to achieve than the long-term goals. For instance, the regular provision of three balanced meal each day for the children could be a short-term goal towards meeting the long-term goal of raising healthy children.
3. Means-end or instrumental goals:These are simple, immediate goals which can be regarded as steps taken to achieve the more complex goals. They take very short time to achieve. For instance, shopping for food, planning, preparation and serving meals could be means-end goals which can be used to achieve the intermediate goal of providing children with balanced meals.

Types of Family Standards

Types of family standards include the following:

1. Economic Standards: Family member should be hard working to enable them provide what they need.
2. Social Standards: Family members should be law abiding and avoid criminal activities.
3. Moral Standards: Family members should maintain fairness and justice in dealing with fellow human beings.
4. Cultural Standards: Family members should live within acceptable pattern of behaviour.

Relationship Among Family Needs, Goals and Standards

Family needs, goals and standards are related to one another. They cannot be separated from each other. For instance a family that needs a house will plan on how to achieve it and decide on the standard (level) e.g. bungalow or duplex. Standards are needed to tell when goals have been achieved.

Uses of Family Needs, Goals and Standards in Resource Management

Family Resources

Resources are tools and talents with which people build their life styles. Family resources are classified into two:

(i) Human resources: These are resources existing within people. These include energy, skill, knowledge, time, talents and traits.

(ii) Non-human resources: These are resources that exist outside people but they are owned, used and controlled by the family. They include money, goods and landed property, community facilities such as markets, roads, parks, schools libraries, etc.

Money as the family income is the most highly appreciated and valued among the resources because it is the basis for the provision of family primary needs.

Uses of Family Needs, Goals and Standards in Resource Management

Family needs, goals and standards play major roles in resource management as followed;

1. They help to make and implement family budget.
2. They help to make savings.
3. They help to set priorities.
4. They help to make financial plans.
5. Set goals you can achieve with the money at hand and not the dream situation.

EVALUATION

1. State two main types of resources
2. Give four examples of each
3. Give four roles of family goal, needs and standards in resource management.

ACTIVITY

1. Make comparison of your family needs and the resources to your family.