Welcome
Educators know that there is always room for improvement in the way they plan and deliver education to their various audiences. This issue of The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues (FFCI) includes research, ideas, and practices that will augment an educator’s knowledge and skills in the field. It focuses mostly on applied research articles but also includes one program article and a perspectives piece. All discuss issues and methods useful in educational programming or trends in the field.
Two articles deal with the topic of mothers feeding their children healthy diets. Townsend et al. report on portion sizes and energy density of foods served at home and in restaurants. How do mothers know how much and what to feed their children? Mothers’ perceptions of appropriate portion sizes to feed their children are identified and discussed. The other article by Agbon, Oguntona and Mayaki shows some of the decisions mothers in Nigeria make when trying to feed their children adequate diets. Discussions of the issues faced and ways to improve the nutrient quality of the food fed infants can be useful in Extension programming when working with immigrants and refugees.
One of the challenges facing educators today is how to recruit and retain their target audiences. Gamble et al. discuss issues and challenges faced by many when recruiting and educating low-income parents and family caregivers in parenting and early literacy programs. Recommendations for designing and implementing programs for low-income parents are given.
Pimentel, Goetz, Gale, and Bermudez demonstrate an interesting way to work with couples that have financial and marital issues. They show how financial counselors and couples therapists can work together to more effectively assist the couples.
In the last article, a program article, Delgadillo, Ralph and Horrocks report on the development of an Extension family finance program for Latino families. The authors documented details of the program’s development and success in a step-by-step manner so Extension agents can replicate it in other places.
Dr. Ash brings a refreshing and thoughtful perspective to the table in her discussion of the advice we give in the field of nutrition and how it continues to change as the years go by.
I offer a round of applause to all the authors for their excellent and insightful contributions in expanding the field of education and family and consumer sciences. I also thank Laverta Flewellen for her work in bringing this issue to publication.
It is, as always, my hope and opinion that you will gain knowledge, resources, and ideas from these articles to assist you in your endeavors. Enjoy!
Jacquelyn W. McClelland, Ph.D.
Editor-In-Chief, FFCI
Back to table of contents ->https://www.theforumjournal.org/2017/09/03/summer-2009-vol-14-no-2/