Celebrate National FCS Day

February 14, 2024, is the day we celebrate National Family & Consumer Sciences Educator Day, a celebration that showcases the value and importance of family and consumer sciences education and its educators. The Live Healthy Live Well team at the Ohio State University Extension wants to enlist your help in spreading the word about the positive impact of Family and Consumer Sciences profession -The People-Centered Sciences.

What can you do –

Why Should We Celebrate NOW –

Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) is a diverse and vital field that plays a crucial role in preparing students for real-world challenges across a variety of workplace settings. FCS utilizes research, experiential education, and technology to teach students the essential knowledge and skills to:

  • lead better lives,
  • be work and career-ready,
  • build strong families,
  • make meaningful contributions to our communities.

Think about the saying “You can’t build a strong house on a weak foundation”

Let’s build a strong foundation for Family Living by Proclaiming, Exploring and Honoring FCS programming and educators.

 

Written by: Margaret Jenkins, Assistant Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences, OSU Extension Clermont County, jenkins.188@osu.edu

Reviewed by: Beth Stefura, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, OSU Extension Mahoning County, Stefura.2@osu.edu

References:

1. American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences https://www.aafcs.org/home

2. Advance CTE https://careertech.org/what-we-do/career-clusters/

3.  Say Yes to FCS video https://youtu.be/Kya5u4KE72g?si=WhWXZzqxgG-sXUGV

Have your voice heard across the nation!

Four Days Left to Impact Millions of Learners!

Don’t miss your chance to respond to and share The National Career Clusters® Framework National Implementation Survey!

With your input, we can achieve our vision for the future of the Framework to be a common language to bridge education and work, empowering each learner to explore, decide and prepare for dynamic and evolving careers.

Take 10 minutes to respond and share the link with your colleagues and Career Technical Education partners!

 

The National Career Clusters® Framework National Implementation Survey closes December 1 – don’t miss the opportunity to provide input on the Framework use for today & the future. Findings and future actions will be shared in 2024. Respond today:

http://www.wested.org/ccfs

Sign Up “Gather Your Gratitude” Email Wellness Challenge

Did you know that gratitude can lessen anxiety, relieve stress, improve sleep, boost immunity, and even support heart health? Join OSU Extension for a 6-week email wellness challenge Gather Your Gratitude. From October 30 – December 11, participants will receive weekly emails and have access to a Wellness Wednesday webinar series on gratitude. 


CLICK HERE to join the Challenge

Kick Start Managing Diabetes

Score a touchdown…
Kick a field goal…
Reserve a seat at…
Dining with Diabetes Virtual Series

Dates:

February 6, 2023                   10:00 am – 12:00 pm
February 13, 2023                10:00 am – 12:00 pm
February 20, 2023               10:00 am – 12:00 pm
February 27, 2023                10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Registration:       https://go.osu.edu/dwdfeb23

Questions:  Please contact Margaret Jenkins, jenkins.188@osu.edu , FCS Educator, Clermont County

 

 

 

Couples don’t have the same experience when both work from home

Take a look at this study with the goal of using the information to help build healthy relationships as we all adapt to global change!  I am only a click away if you need more resources, jenkins.188@osu.edu

Gender differences found in studies in China, South Korea

In dual-earner couples, working from home may be a better deal for husbands than wives in some ways, according to two related studies of workers in China and South Korea.

The research showed that both husbands and wives completed more family-related tasks when they worked from home versus the office.  However, when wives worked from home, husbands completed fewer family tasks than when their wives worked in the office. Wives did not complete fewer tasks when husbands worked from home.

In addition, wives in both studies felt increased guilt about failing to accomplish housework and spending time with their families when they did more work at the office. In men, that result was found in one study.

Jasmine Hu

Jasmine Hu

“We found that men and women don’t have the same experience working from home,” said Jasmine Hu, lead author of the study and professor of management at The Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.

“There are still some gendered differences in how they manage their job and family responsibilities.”

The study was published recently in the journal Personnel Psychology.

The researchers did two studies, both during the COVID-19 pandemic.  One study involved 172 married dual-earner couples in mainland China who had at least one child. That study was done near the beginning of the pandemic in April and May of 2020.

The second study was done in South Korea, later in the pandemic from June to August 2021. This involved 60 dual-earner couples, some with children and some without.

In both surveys, all participants completed two surveys each day for 14 consecutive workdays. Each husband and wife reported their work-from-home status and the amount of work and family tasks they completed.

They also completed various measures, which could include work-family conflict and family-work conflict, how much guilt they felt toward their families and their work, and their psychological withdrawal from work and family.

Findings showed that when husbands had flexible work schedules, wives completed significantly more work tasks when working from home than in the office.  When wives had inflexible work arrangements, husbands completed significantly more family tasks when working from home.

“These findings suggest that husbands could help remote working wives when they have more flexible work schedules and do more family tasks when their wives have more rigid work schedules,” Hu said.

Overall, the results suggested that when the boundaries between work and family time are blurry, dual-earner couples feel the conflict.

Findings showed that when employees (both husbands and wives) worked from home, they increased how much work they completed around their home and family, but that increased their feelings of inter-role conflict, psychological withdrawal from work and feelings of guilt concerning work for their employer.

“Managers should form realistic expectations about how much work their remote working employees can effectively handle and show more understanding of the home working situations of dual-earner couples,” Hu said.

Hu said the results suggest husbands with flexibility in scheduling work time can provide more support for their wives to complete their remote work tasks.

“Organizations and managers should give their male employees more flexibility when possible so they and their families can better adapt to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

While many of the work-from-home policies this study investigated were put into place because of the pandemic, Hu said that things won’t go back to the way they were when the pandemic is over.

“COVID-19 forever changed how we work. Remote working is going to become much more of a norm,” she said.

“People have really gotten used to the benefit of working from home and many won’t want to go back to the office full time.”

Hu said she sees hybrid work as the best possible future for working couples.

“This will allow employees to have the flexibility they get from working at home, while also having the opportunity to interact more with colleagues at the office, which can increase collaboration and inspire creativity and innovation,” she said.

Sign Up Now for the “Unwrap Your Gifts” Email Wellness Challenge

Are you interested in improving your wellness by exploring: gratitude, traditional foods with a twist, sustainability, self-care, and more – all wrapped up with new gift ideas? Join Ohio State University Extension for the “Unwrap Your Gifts” 6-week email wellness challenge to learn more about these and other wellness topics.

https://go.osu.edu/abchrivercounties