Overview

Catalog Description: This course involves a study of theories, principles, and practices needed to build nurturing and supportive parent-child relationships and to guide children toward healthy developmental outcomes.

Credit Load: Three credit hours.

Additional Description: This course invites students to reflect on their own biases, presumptions, justifications, and other related frameworks as it pertains to parenting. Many key areas in parenting that are explored include the following: motivation, way-of-being, discipline, pride, behaviorism, temperament, personality, gender, and many more. With the help of theory, research, philosophy, personal accounts, and gospel doctrines, students will begin to see a pattern in not just parenting, but all important relationships. This pattern will enable them to see potential problems and appropriate solutions for themselves and their children.

 Marriage and Family Studies Program

FAML 220: Parenting is a required course for the following:

• Marriage, Family, and Human Relations certificate
• Marriage and Family Studies Minor

While the course is not technically required for the Marriage and Family Studies Major, many students will take FAML 220 to complete the certificate. This is also a popular elective course for non-majors.

 Course Requirements

Prerequisites

No prerequisites.

Required Resources

Required Textbook

You are required to purchase a low-cost, auto-access textbook. Read the information in the Textbook Information module to learn how to access your textbook, and how to opt-out of this automatic purchase, if desired.

The textbook is available in the Course Materials List.

Other Textbooks

You will also study the following books, but they are linked in the course for free from the BYU-Idaho library.

If you would like a personal copy of these books, they can be purchased from a variety of outlets at nominal cost.

1. Arbinger Institute, The. 2015. The Anatomy of Peace. Oakland, CA: Berrett-Kohler Publishers.
2. Dweck, C. 2012. Mindset: How You Can Fulfil Your Potential by Carol Dweck. New York, NY: Constable & Robinson.

Recommended Reading

The following is a list of recommended parenting and relationship books. Many of these books are referenced in this course. These books are not required for purchase; however ,many students decide to purchase them after being introduced to them. 

1. Bednar, David A. 2011. Increase in Learning: Spiritual patterns for obtaining your own answers. SLC, UT: Deseret Book.
2. Ginott, H. 2003. Between Parent and Child: Revised and Updated: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press.
3. Gottman, J. 1997. Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child: The heart of parenting. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
4. Kardaras, N. 2016. Glow Kids: How screen addiction is hijacking our kids--and how to break the  trance. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Griffin.
5. Millet, R. 1996. When a Child Wanders. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book
6. Nelsen, J. 2006. Positive Discipline: The Classic Guide to Helping Children Develop Self-Discipline, Responsibility, Cooperation, and Problem-Solving Skills. New York, NY: Ballentine Books.
7. Nettle, D. 2009. Personality: What Makes You the Way You Are. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
8. Sax, L. 2017. Why Gender Matters, Second Edition: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know About the Emerging Science of Sex Differences. New York, NY: Doubleday Publishers.
9. Siegel, D. & Bryson, T. 2012. Parenting the Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind. New York, NY: Bantam Books.
10. Warner, C. T. 2001. Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves. Salt Lake City, UT: Shadow Mountain.

Journal

You will also need to have a journal—paper or electronic—that is specifically for this course. It isn't necessary to purchase anything; you can create any form of journal that is most convenient for you. We recommend one that benefits your style of learning the most. The journal is for personal use, but you will report each week on completion of this work.

 Structure

Course Outcomes (CO)

The focus of this course is on the interaction between social science, philosophy, theory, and gospel principles relating to parents raising children. These learning outcomes enable a student to do the following:

1. Apply a gospel-based doctrinal framework in everyday life.
2. Integrate research, philosophy, and theory as it applies to parents raising children.
3. Examine personal biases, values, and beliefs about family relationships.
4. Describe the characteristics, needs, and influences associated with healthy child development.
5. Utilize various parenting principles to assess and improve family functioning.
6. Formulate a sound personal parenting philosophy grounded in theory, research, and gospel principles.

Major Assignments

The table below is meant to help you see the relevance of each major assignment as it pertains to the course outcomes (CO).

Weekly Patterns

The table below displays typical weekly activities, due dates, and activity descriptions.

*Set your time zone within user preferences so the dates and times for course activities will display correctly for your time zone.

 Learning Model

Learning Model Principles

1. Exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a principle of power.
2. Understand that true teaching is done by and with the Holy Ghost.
3. Lay hold upon the word of God—as found in the holy scriptures and in the words of the prophets—in all disciplines.
4. Act for themselves and accept responsibility for learning and teaching.
5. Love, serve, and teach one another.

Learning Model Processes

1. Prepare carefully and thoroughly for each class experience.
2. Seek opportunities to teach one another, both in and out of the classroom.
3. Take time to ponder and prove teachings presented in the text and class discussions.

The Learning Model will be implemented in the following way:

Prepare: You will prepare by completing the weekly Study activities. You will best understand and remember the readings if you will discuss them with others in your life such as family members, roommates, and friends. The readings will assist you in upcoming activities. Be sure to always look ahead to see if there are activities coming up soon so you are not caught off guard.

Teach One Another: You will have many opportunities to teach your classmates. You will meet in a small group each week to discuss the week's topic. You must set aside time to do this. Complete the Study pages as early as possible in the week so that when you meet with your classmates on Zoom, you will be prepared to share your insights, inquiries, and implications. Focus on helping others learn and pay careful attention to the comments made by others.

Ponder and Prove: You will have several opportunities to prove you are growing throughout the class. Each course assignment is intended to show how well you apply what you are learning. In the last week of the semester, you will have your final assessment, which will give you the chance to see how much you have learned.

 Expectations

A vital principle to learning is to "act for themselves and accept responsibility for learning and teaching" (BYU-Idaho Learning Model). To become engaged learners, you must prepare by reading the assigned material, writing in your notebook or journal, asking questions, and sharing  your insights. You also have a responsibility to contribute to our learning community by "loving, serving, and teaching one another.” Keep this in mind as you review the course assignments and requirements.

 About Course Readings

As mentioned above, you will read from three different textbooks. You will also read "Study" pages, which is additional course content and commentary. All of the Study pages are given a "To-Do" date so they will appear in your "To-Do" panel. However, this is only a suggested date. You are expected to read these study pages before your group meeting (whenever it is scheduled). Those with a group meeting early in the week will need to do a lot of reading quickly. Students with these "early" meetings have found success by completing one week's assignments before week's end, and starting their reading for the next week earlier.

Most weeks have two Study pages, but some weeks have up to four Study pages.

TIP: As you start each week, go to the week's Module to get an overall view of the week's assignments. 

Citations and References

There are numerous references and citations linked in each Study page. In the past, students have asked if it is necessary to read ALL of the linked pages. The answer is no. The references are provided to give proper credit to authors and researchers. In addition, it allows you to locate the source of the quote or statement if you are curious about a particular topic. You might want to read the entire article, or note the referenced book in your journal to read later. Any resources listed under "Optional Resources" are, of course, optional.

IMPORTANT: If the link includes the instruction to "Read" or "Study," this means you are expected to read the entire article or book chapter.

 About Course Assignments

You will have to learn to be a wise steward over your learning in this course. There are only a few opportunities for you to earn points in this course, and they are outlined in this section. You will need to be engaged and participating in order to glean the wisdom and insights that will make the course helpful to you.

Participation Grade

20% of your grade comes from Citizenship Reports and graded Zoom Meetings.

• Citizenship Reports
  

  Citizenship Reports are completed at the end of each week. Each Citizenship Report will include 1–3 multiple choice questions about the week's topic. Additionally, the Citizenship Report will ask you to grade yourself about how well you participated in journal writing and in your Zoom group. The point of doing these reports is to learn to assess yourself and find places you can improve. Please be honest in your evaluation. These reports are intended to help you.

• Zoom Meetings
  

  You will meet with a small group each week. Each member of the group who attends the weekly group's Zoom Meetings may earn points. Those who do not attend cannot earn points. This weekly activity makes up your grade for "Teach One Another." You will take turns hosting the meeting and taking notes.
  
  Important: Weekly Zoom meetings are a required part of this course. If your schedule will not allow for consistent attendance, please consider whether this course is the right fit for you at this time.

Major Assignments

80% of your grade is made up of the graded assignments listed in the "Major Assignments" table. This includes your final assessment (see details below). Please familiarize yourself with the activities and when they are due. Because you will not have an activity every week, you would be wise to look ahead and prepare for the weeks when you do have an activity. 

• Final Assessment
  

  Throughout the semester you will be learning about the “Influence Pyramid” (in The Anatomy of Peace) that will allow you to understand the nature of your relationship(s) with children, especially your own if you have them. It can help you to diagnose the deeper issues and determine solutions within those relationships. Start now, at the beginning of the semester, to pay attention to a relationship you have with a child or adolescent (preferably your own, or your relative, or your neighbor, or a child or youth in your ward, etc.) As you learn more about the Influence Pyramid, think about how the things you are learning might change your heart and improve that relationship.

• • At the end of the semester, you will report how you applied each level of the Influence Pyramid to that child. If you have been working on it throughout the semester, it will be much easier and more accurate as you complete your final.
  • A part of the final will ask you to demonstrate your understanding of the Influence Pyramid by applying it to the relationship with the child or adolescent you determine to focus on, and analyzing the results. As you learn more about this Pyramid, consciously apply it to your relationship with that child and take notes on specific interactions and its effects.

Feedback

You can expect to receive grades and feedback within seven days of the due date for all assignments that will be graded.

Workload

This course has been designed to follow a weekly schedule in which students complete one module per week. You are expected to complete all of the learning activities for each week in the order they are listed. You may review the next week's assignments, but you should not work far ahead. For example, you should complete all the learning activities in Week 01 before beginning any learning activities in Week 02.

It is expected that each student should spend three to four hours per credit every week studying and completing assignments. This means for this three credit class, students should plan to work on this course for 9–12 hours each week.

Group Work

This course requires weekly synchronous (live) group meetings. In these small group meetings you will discuss the weekly topic(s). In Week 02, you will choose a day and time to meet with your group for these synchronous meetings.

Synchronous group assignments begin in Week 03. You can easily identify these group assignments as each has the word "Group Discussion" in the assignment title.

Late Work

As a sign of professionalism and respect, you should complete your work on time. However, your instructor has the discretion to accept late work or extend due dates as appropriate.

Retries

You are expected to submit your best work each time. For that reason, retries are not an expectation you should have for this course. However, your instructor has the discretion to allow a retry if he or she considers the request appropriate.

Extra Credit

Extra credit is not a part of this course.

Grading Scale

Turnitin

Your instructor will use Turnitin to check some of your papers.

Turnitin is an electronic text matching system which compares a student assignment against a database of sources and generates an originality report. The report highlights any matched text, calculates a Turnitin Similarity score for the matched text, and provides links for the matched text to the original source document, or a similar document on its database.

 Academic Support Centers

Go to Academic Support Centers (or come to the McKay Library, room 272) for information about how the writing, reading, math, and study skills centers can help you increase success in all of your classes.

To schedule a tutor for a specific class, log on to Tutor Request under Student Services and follow the instructions.

 Technical Support

 Program Statement for Marriage and Family Studies

March 2021

As the world is becoming more diverse in its values and perspectives on marriage and the family, it becomes increasingly important that students and faculty understand our mission as a major in Marriage and Family Studies at BYU-Idaho. Consistent with the University, our mission is to prepare family life professionals to strengthen families throughout the world as true disciples of Jesus Christ, as outlined in the doctrines and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Regardless of current or future philosophies or practices related to the family unit, the major of Marriage and Family Studies at BYU-Idaho is built upon The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Although this program will explore a variety of views and perspectives on the family, and each student is entitled to his or her own beliefs, it will emphasize research and theory and be guided by eternal truths as taught by the Lord’s prophets. In short, our major strives to follow the admonition from President Dallin H. Oaks that “every generation has its tests and its chance to stand and prove itself. I believe our attitude toward and use of the family proclamation is one of those tests for this generation. I pray for all Latter-day Saints to stand firm in that test” (from “The Plan and the Proclamation,” October 2017 General Conference).

 Department Policy Regarding Intellectual Property and Course Materials

All of the materials in this course are covered by fair use and copyright law and are proprietary (intellectual property). Students are not permitted to sell, post, trade, share, distribute, or send any information contained in this course (including outlines, handouts, syllabi, exams, quizzes, PowerPoint presentations, lectures, audio and video recordings, or images of the same, etc., including your own work for this course) to any parties outside of this course (for example, Course Hero, Quizlet, Google Docs, etc.) by any means without the expressed written permission from the creator of these works and the department chair. Any of these actions violate the Academic Honesty Policies of Brigham Young University-Idaho and will be dealt with as such.

The materials in this course are also intellectual property, and taking any materials from the course and posting them outside of this course in any manner will be construed as theft and distribution of intellectual property. If you engage in any of these actions, or use any of these materials without authorization, the instructor has the right to impose an appropriate academic sanction (in other words, give you a failing grade for the assignment and/or fail you from the course). Additionally, the respective Course Lead, Program Lead, and/or department chair also reserve the right to impose appropriate academic sanctions regardless of any imposed by the instructor.

 University Policies

Students with Disabilities

Brigham Young University-Idaho is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the Accessibility Services Office at 1-208-496-9210 or visit their website and follow the Steps for Receiving Accommodations. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with students and instructors by the Accessibility Services Office.

This course requires synchronous meetings. If you are currently registered with the Accessibility Services Office and need an interpreter or transcriber for these meetings, please contact the deaf and hard of hearing coordinator at 1-208-496-9219.

Student Honor and Other Policies

Please read through the document called University Policies. It gives important information about the following topics:

• Student Honor
  • Academic Honesty
  • Student Conduct
    • Sexual Harassment
• Student with Disabilities
• Complaints and Grievances
• Copyright Notice

Go to the Student Resources module to review further resources and information.