Magic Bullet for Strong Family Relationships

Dec. 5, 2009 - PRLog -- Children learn what is important from their families through conversations. Meal time, especially dinner, has always been the perfect time for family conversations to share family values of high school completion, career exploration, career goals and career plans. While many families are celebrating a rite of passage – high school graduation and matriculation to college, other families are mourning the fact their child has joined the ranks of  students who dropout of high school every day. That ranks is swelling by the millions.

Politicians and business leaders are spending money to create the magic bullet to solve this crisis as it is costing the America population billions in lost income taxes, tax dollars spent for welfare, crime prevention and prisons. There is no need to create a magic bullet.  The MAGIC BULLET already exists. It is food, family and conversations. High school dropouts began to accelerate at the same time family sit down dinners decreased. Students are not remaining engaged in school as school is irrelevant to their lives. Many students do not have goals or career aspirations as they do not see high-paying, high-demand jobs in their neighborhoods neither are these goals/ career aspirations communicated every night over a dinner.

Research shows students focused on achieving meaningful personal goals become motivated to complete class work, homework and eventually graduate high school to matriculate to college. Families, not schools, should make the process of education relevant to their children. The process of relevancy happens with safe non-threatening conversations that occur over a meal followed by regular family activities.

Imagine the entire family sitting at the dining room table cutting out photos from a magazine to create their collages. There is an excitement in the air as parents and siblings learn about each other and their dreams. There is even more excitement as each family member explains their dreams and goals. “It is quite enlightening.  There is a simple understanding that keeps everyone focused, especially teenagers who are trying to find themselves,”   states Ida Byrd-Hill, author of Follow Your Inner Compass Teen. Parents can begin to have a different relationship with their children. Rather than parents continually harping on good grades and discipline, young people become motivated for getting those grades as most of their dreams and resolutions will be anchored to a career goal.

Follow Your Inner Compass Teen (www.followyourinnercompass.com) determines careers by personality type based on a Myers-Briggs type test and links it to a fictional or cartoon character with the same personality type. Young people can watch TV and see themselves.  They can also discuss their personality type with friends like a horoscope. The new question for 2010 will be “What is Your Personality Type?”

The Future Lifestyle Map began 5 years ago for my family when I required my children, Kevin and Karen Hill to take the Myers Briggs test.  We discovered radio and TV production would be a suitable career for Karen based on her personality type and video game design/ physicist for Kevin. They are in the 11th grade in a performing/ visual arts school and fully focused on college and career. The Future Lifestyle Map was perfected in a pilot at a Detroit alternative high school that obtained an 80% graduation rate and 85% attendance rate amongst high school dropouts and adjudicated youth.

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Upheaval Media, Inc. provides schools, school districts, colleges and youth organizations with books, web-based programs and workshops to incorporate academic skills into every day life to improve student performance at school and on standardized exams.