It may seem a difficult task to engage men in marriage and relationship education (MRE) classes. While women may be more willing to talk freely about their relationships in any setting, men may need a little more coaxing. In couple-based services, there are ways to facilitate an open discussion that will help men reveal their thoughts and even their feelings toward children, relationships and marriage. This Tip Sheet provides a few helpful suggestions to engage men in discussions and activities in MRE classes. (Author abstract modified)
This brief defines forgiveness and then explains the difficulties facilitators may encounter when teaching forgiveness in marriage and relationship (MRE) education classes. Strategies that can be shared with couples are listed and include: reflect on your mutual behaviors during the day and focus on actions that are life-giving and kind, spend little time reflecting on mistakes, learn to live without perfection, expect some pain in life, understand that there is little value in holding grudges, slow down the pace of making judgments, focus on your abilities, achievements, and goals as a…
Designed for marriage practitioners, this brief explains the influence of maturity on a person's ability to truly commit to a relationship for life and understand that commitment implies giving up all other partner choices. The impact of maturity on the ability to forgive, to take personal responsibility, and to communicate effectively is also discussed, and challenges facilitators of marriage and relationship education classes face in teaching maturity are addressed. Facilitators are urged to identify those who may need to work on maturity more than others, set goals with these individuals…
Designed for marriage practitioners, this brief explains the importance of trust in relationships and offers strategies for teaching the value of trust to couples. The keys to trust are explained and include investing time in each other, reliability, understanding, sacrifice, and thankfulness.
There are many opportunities for those in marriage education to work with the business community. Marriage education practitioners may want to partner with businesses to solicit monetary donations for program operations, in-kind donations or to incentivize participation (if their grant allows). Others would like to provide healthy marriage and relationship education services to a company's employees. Once you determine the purpose of your association with the company, you need to be able to communicate effectively with its leadership. The following provides some tips for connecting with…
Understanding the culture and values of your audience is of utmost importance. Culture is defined as a person's belief system, language, behaviors and values. Understanding how a person's culture frames his or her worldview and relationships, while not passing judgment, is cultural sensitivity. Because of the strong relationship between culture and marriage, it is important that marriage and relationship education programs are culturally relevant. This tip sheet offers program operators or marriage educators ways to appropriately adapt their program or curriculum to connect with their…
There are a number of areas that marriage and relationship education program providers must address when designing and implementing a program for Native American communities. There have been a number of lessons learned from Native American cultural experts and program practitioners who have developed culturally relevant marriage education programs. These services can be effective for Native Americans living on reservations and for those who are not.There is great diversity within the Native American community. The various tribes have distinct traditions, customs and languages. This Tip Sheet…
Studies show that increasing numbers of teens from 1975 to 1995 felt that marriage and family life were "extremely important" to them. In 2005, most teens continued to feel favorably about marriage. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 90 percent of Americans will marry someday. Relationships as depicted in popular books and movies are new and exciting to youth. Even so, many teens have experienced divorce in the family and are pessimistic about the possibility of having a stable, two-parent household or a lifelong marriage. Relationship education (RE) services are, therefore, a…
There is a strong correlation between family stability and the family's social and economic well-being. Two-parent, married families are touted as the ideal environment for raising children. Research shows that stable, two parent married households are connected to various positive outcomes for child well-being.In addition, there are various positive psychological, emotional and economic outcomes for adults who are in healthy marriages. This is true across various racial and cultural groups. Despite the decline in marriage among African Americans, marriage has historically been and continues…
navy dot icon
Training Materials Used in 2004 and 2005 for single OEF and OIF troops, Military Life Skills provides important communication tools, and a heavy dose of techniques for managing anger (based on research of most effective, best practices, techniques), for managing difficult conversations with curious civilians, for seizing the opportunity to live life effectively in money matters and in dating wisely. While allowing for decompression from deployment, Military Life Skills gives practical situations for troops to relate to and provides practice in skills, before the troops do something that will not result in their…
