Family needs, goals and standards - JSS1 Home Economics Past Questions and Answers - page 1

A family is a group of one or more parents and their children living together as a unit.

Family needs are the things that are essential for the families physical, emotional, mental and social health. 

1. Basic/family needs;

These are very important needs in the family which the family cannot do without. They are needed by the 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 family members, extra clothing, family car, etc.

Family goals are specific purpose 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 attachment. They are used to measure the value of something, such as an activity (e.g standard of living). Family standards are what a person or a family 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.

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 goals: These are goals set up as means of achieving the long-term goals. They take less time than the long term goals. For instance, the regular provision of three balanced meal each for the children could be a short-term goal towards meeting the long-term goal of raising healthy children.

3. Means-to-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-to-end goals which can be used to achieve the intermediate goal of providing children with balanced meals.