What is Family Enrichment?Families often struggle with overcoming the obstacles to foundational relationships. Husbands and wives, parents and children, siblings, and immediate family and extended family alike encounter seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Our program employs the case study methodology, commonly found in business and law school classrooms, to examine scenarios relevant to family life. We analyze the complex and sometimes daunting situations faced by families to better understand their causes and identify their resolution. While the case studies are instructive, the experience and wisdom from the parents participating prove invaluable. Guided by an experienced moderator, who is also a parent, couples strengthen their unity and renew their commitment to one another and their families. The method Throughout the week, participants learn and practice the case study method, which offers practical skills for handling the pressing circumstances that arise each day. Cases are usually short and easy to read. Cases are first analyzed by small teams formed by 4-5 couples, but it is important that each of the spouses reads it individually and then comments it with the other spouse ahead of this meeting. The case study method teaches you to:
Family Enrichment is designed so you can apply this method to any situation at home, work, or otherwise. It helps you sustain focus and make accomplishments with the things that matter most — your marriage, your family, and your relationships with other people. Applying the method For the success of the method, you should proceed as follows: 1. Each spouse reads the case study. 2. Both spouses discuss the case study. 3. The couple meets with their team to discuss the case. 4. All groups meet in a general session with a Moderator that directs the discussion and gives a brief presentation. |
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Five Reasons for Family Enrichment
by Javier Vidal-Quadras, Secretary General, IFFD
1. Parents, first educators of their children
The specialization that so often occurs in contemporary life can invite parents to relinquish ownership of their children’s education to others (teachers, educators, nannies, and so on). Yet parents are the ones in the best position to educate their children, as they are the ones who receive all the information about them from various sources. Family Enrichment courses illuminate this reality and provide parents with the necessary tools to develop their own philosophies and goals, both for education and character. The methodology—discussion of case studies between the couple, in small groups, and in larger general sessions led by an expert moderator—dissuades parents from the temptation to develop a child’s education system according to a single external perspective.
2. Professionalization and anticipation
Through individual study of the technical notes and discussion of the case studies in three phases—the couple, small group, and general sessions—couples generally develop abilities to better analyze the reality of a situation, to distinguish facts from prejudices and judgments, and to navigate to the root of a problem. The cases provide an opportunity to anticipate situations that will sooner or later come to pass in family life.
3. Marriage
The case method, by virtue of analyzing an external situation, ensures the involvement of both spouses and allows them to rediscover the richness they each bring to their shared commitment as spouses and parents. This balance is critical in the family. On the one hand, for the children, whose temperaments will more tuned with one or other parent, and it is important for them to find the footprint of both parents in the family education project. Moreover, it is essential for the couple, who learn to externalize their individual ideas, put them together, and manage the difference. To educate is to teach love, and to strengthen the bond between the spouses means to ensure the solid formation of the children.
4. Friendship and articulation of standards
The contrasting views of other couples during small group discussions and general sessions help a couple to objectify and constantly review their own values. The cooperative climate surrounding the courses encourages couples to explore their desires, goals, and similar concerns, thus providing the basis for lasting friendships between couples. The mainstream climate is not always family-friendly, and the relationships formed naturally within Family Enrichment are a welcome—and strengthening—change of pace.
5. Fun and simplicity
Courses are established according to the age of the children or the duration of the marriage. The specific problems of a particular period of personality development of the children or the evolution of a marriage are discussed among those experiencing them firsthand, favoring a simple and casual exchange of stories and lessons learned. The atmosphere is not formally academic, but rather a gathering of friends interested in improving and in helping each other with affection, but not without professionalism.
by Javier Vidal-Quadras, Secretary General, IFFD
1. Parents, first educators of their children
The specialization that so often occurs in contemporary life can invite parents to relinquish ownership of their children’s education to others (teachers, educators, nannies, and so on). Yet parents are the ones in the best position to educate their children, as they are the ones who receive all the information about them from various sources. Family Enrichment courses illuminate this reality and provide parents with the necessary tools to develop their own philosophies and goals, both for education and character. The methodology—discussion of case studies between the couple, in small groups, and in larger general sessions led by an expert moderator—dissuades parents from the temptation to develop a child’s education system according to a single external perspective.
2. Professionalization and anticipation
Through individual study of the technical notes and discussion of the case studies in three phases—the couple, small group, and general sessions—couples generally develop abilities to better analyze the reality of a situation, to distinguish facts from prejudices and judgments, and to navigate to the root of a problem. The cases provide an opportunity to anticipate situations that will sooner or later come to pass in family life.
3. Marriage
The case method, by virtue of analyzing an external situation, ensures the involvement of both spouses and allows them to rediscover the richness they each bring to their shared commitment as spouses and parents. This balance is critical in the family. On the one hand, for the children, whose temperaments will more tuned with one or other parent, and it is important for them to find the footprint of both parents in the family education project. Moreover, it is essential for the couple, who learn to externalize their individual ideas, put them together, and manage the difference. To educate is to teach love, and to strengthen the bond between the spouses means to ensure the solid formation of the children.
4. Friendship and articulation of standards
The contrasting views of other couples during small group discussions and general sessions help a couple to objectify and constantly review their own values. The cooperative climate surrounding the courses encourages couples to explore their desires, goals, and similar concerns, thus providing the basis for lasting friendships between couples. The mainstream climate is not always family-friendly, and the relationships formed naturally within Family Enrichment are a welcome—and strengthening—change of pace.
5. Fun and simplicity
Courses are established according to the age of the children or the duration of the marriage. The specific problems of a particular period of personality development of the children or the evolution of a marriage are discussed among those experiencing them firsthand, favoring a simple and casual exchange of stories and lessons learned. The atmosphere is not formally academic, but rather a gathering of friends interested in improving and in helping each other with affection, but not without professionalism.
