Discoursal representation of masculine parenting in Arabic and English websites

The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences and similarities between Arabic and English parents’ role in Arabic and English parenting website texts and the linguistic exponents used to address parents and signal their roles, and to find out the socio-cultural ideologies that have given rise to variations in gender roles. To this end, a corpus of 40 articles targeting gender-neutral titles and father related ones were selected equally from English and Arabic websites. Drawing on Van Leeuwen’s (2008) framework on critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Sunderland’s (2000, 2006) framework of analysis, the data were analysed and contrasted. The English texts reflected the prevalence of ‘shared parenting’ discourse, whereas the Arabic ones revealed a ‘very traditional parenthood’ discourse. These differences can be attributed to variation in the socio-cultural practices dominant in Arab and Western societies. Such findings will hopefully provide some useful insights for family life educators and parents who resort to such websites.

Church, Sex, and “Judeo-Christian” Family Life Education

Chapter 3 argues that liberal Protestants and their engagements with social science transformed sex education into family life education beginning in the mid-1920s. Three liberal religious influences interconnected to bring about this transformation: (1) the leadership of Anna Garlin Spencer; (2) the alliance Spencer forged between ASHA and the Federal Council of Churches; and (3) the careful balance struck by Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish family life educators for encouraging the interfaith ideal of “Judeo-Christian” family values while rejecting marriage across religious lines. The shift to family life education activated churches and some synagogues in sex education work, effectively making the FCC a practical arm of the sex education movement. Shared interest in social scientific concerns about family life and methods of counseling grounded the partnership, with both ASHA and the FCC convinced that strengthening marital sexuality would improve society.

Teaching Children About Money: Prospective Parenting Ideas From Undergraduate Students

Many Millennials (aged 18–30 in 2016) are struggling with financial capability and independence. As efforts unfold to address this issue by improving financial education, Millennials themselves can offer helpful family-centered ideas for children’s financial learning. As part of the Whats and Hows of Family Financial $ocialization project, this qualitative study explored the ideas of 126 undergraduate students enrolled in family finance classes at three institutions from three regions of the United States about how and what they intend to teach their future children about finances. Thematic content analysis and coding of interviews revealed four core themes: (a) “Communicating Family Finances,” (b) “Opportunities for Responsibility,” (c) “The Value of Hard Work,” and (d) “The Process of Saving.” These findings have implications for parents, future parents, financial counselors, financial planners, family life educators, financial educators, therapists, and researchers in improving parental financial education for future generations.