Family & Consumer Sciences Day

Meal preparation. Nicholas Menijes / Canva Pro.

The 3rd of December is Family & Consumer Sciences Day.

The day promotes the work of the Family and Consumer Sciences field (formerly known as “home economics”), and helps professionals in the field increase their visibility and inform the public of the evidence-based approaches they have to offer to improve everyday life.

The focus of the day is a home-cooked meal.

#DineIn #FCSday #FCSsuccess

Website: American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS)

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/groups/fcsday/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AAFCSheadquarters/

See also: Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Fannie Merritt Farmer’s Birthday, Fannie Merritt Farmer School Opens, Global Handwashing Day, Katherine Caldwell Bayley’s Birthday, Marguerite Patten, Mary Ellis Ames, Maria Parloa’s Birthday, Mary J. Lincoln’s Birthday

Celebrating Family and Consumer Sciences Professionals

There has been a tendency to think of the work of family and consumer sciences professionals with nostaglia, as something lost in or belonging in the past and “simpler times”, but in fact they are more relevant than ever in today’s more “complex times” as upcoming generations suffer from a lack of even basic household skills, with ramifications for our communities as a whole. For instance, a lack of even basic meal preparation skills has contributed to today’s obesity crisis, as people rely on already-prepared foods from corporations who may not always have their customers’ overall health as top of mind.

Family and Consumer Sciences brings together cross-discipline knowledge in areas such as food safety, home safety, nutrition, and health and wellness, as well as “human and child development, personal and family finance, family relations, housing and interior design, textiles and apparel, and consumer issues.” ^[1]Wells, Kayla. Thursday, December 3 is Family & Consumer Sciences Day! WSU Extension Family & Consumer Sciences. 25 November 2020. Accessed October 2021 at https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/2086/2020/11/FCS-Day.pdf

Bringing together this diversity of skills and knowledge areas helps create “more effective critical thinkers and problem solvers.” ^[2]Maryland Governor Recognizes Morgan Family & Consumer Sciences Day Celebration. Maryland: Morgan State University. 28 January 2016. Accessed October 2021 at https://news.morgan.edu/maryland-governor-recognizes-morgan-family-consumer-sciences-day-celebration/

On this day, there will be interviews with experts, discussion panels, and association luncheons with presentations and awards. Live events will also be broadcast on the Internet.

The Heart of the Day: Dine Together!

The main focus of the promotions for today is actually away from the profession, and towards everyday people: the suggested main activity for today is simply for people to come together with family and / or friends, prepare a home-cooked meal together, then sit down together and eat it!

“Family and Consumer Sciences professionals promote families eating and preparing meals together as a way to build strong families and improve nutrition.” ^[3]Wells, Kayla. Thursday, December 3 is Family & Consumer Sciences Day! WSU Extension Family & Consumer Sciences. 25 November 2020. Accessed October 2021 at https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/2086/2020/11/FCS-Day.pdf

This simple action can encapsulate many of the principles the profession tries to communicate. It promotes family and community well-being, a chance to connect and support, and educate, while at the same time leading to better nutritional outcomes compared to eating out or take-away food.

“There’s a nationwide obesity epidemic, especially in children and teens, and a lot of that has to do with unhealthy eating and lack of food preparation knowledge. Research has shown that the whole family benefits from family mealtime by having better nutrition, improving family communication, fostering family traditions, and teaching life skills, such as meal planning, budgeting, and food preparation. Encouraging families to prepare simple, healthy meals and eat together supports the essence of family and consumer sciences: “Creating Healthy and Sustainable Families.” ^[4]Celebrate Family & Consumer Sciences Day by “Dining In” for Healthy Families on December 3rd! Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina. 17 October 2019. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.farmtoschoolcoalitionnc.org/news/detail/celebrate-family-consumer-sciences-day-by-dining-in-for-healthy-families-on-december-3rd

The simple action of meals together can also help support our youth:

“Research shows that family meals are protective against depressive symptoms in youth and may reduce drug and alcohol use in teens.” ^[5]Daryl Minch, FCHS Educator for Rutgers Cooperative Extension in Somerset County. Quoted in: Polanin, Nicholas. Hey Jersey! Take the pledge and dine in tonight! Somerville, New Jersey: My Central Jersey. 2 December 2015. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/life/2015/12/02/take-pledge-dine-in/76555364/

If a meal together at dinner time isn’t going to work out today owing to work or other schedules, try for breakfast or lunch instead; or the day before, or after!

Activities for today

• Change your Facebook profile photo to show logo for ” I’m Dining In”;
• invite family and friends to dine in with you;
• plan ahead to have all the ingredients to avoid frustration;
• do any long, tedious meal prep ahead of time (e.g. the day before soak and cook dried beans, marinate anything that needs marinating, )
• review one or two key elements of food preparation safety and communicate them to your team in the kitchen;
• take a photo of the meal prep and the eating and post them on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Instagram using the tags for the day;
• look at some of the great homemade DIY mixes we have on our sister site, Healthy Canning, which can make everyday meal prep smarter while still keeping it all “from scratch”;
• order stickers in advance from the AAFCS to help promote the day in your class or community organization.

History

The first year for Family & Consumer Sciences Day was in 2014. ^[6]”On Thursday, Dec. 3, we are all invited to celebrate the second annual Family & Consumer Sciences Day.” Polanin, Nicholas. Hey Jersey! Take the pledge and dine in tonight! Somerville, New Jersey: My Central Jersey. 2 December 2015. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/life/2015/12/02/take-pledge-dine-in/76555364/

Family & Consumer Sciences Day 2014 Results

Family & Consumer Sciences Day 2015 was proclaimed by the Governors of several States, such as Jay Inslee of Washington, ^[7]https://wafacse.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/family-consumer-sciences-day-2015-1.pdf , Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. of Maryland ^[8]https://news.morgan.edu/maryland-governor-recognizes-morgan-family-consumer-sciences-day-celebration/ , and Scott Walker of Wisconsin ^[9]https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/news/2014/11/25/benefits-of-dining-in-showcased-on-dec-3-family-consumer-sciences-day/ . (Though bear in mind that such proclamations are valid for that year, only.)

The date was chosen to mark the birthday of Ellen Swallow Richards (3 December 1842 – 30 March 1911). She was the first American woman to obtain a degree in chemistry (from Vassar College in 1870) and was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from which she graduated in 1873 as its first woman graduate:

“In 1873, shortly after MIT’s opening in 1865, Ellen Swallow Richards became MIT’s first woman graduate (and later its first woman instructor).” ^[10]MIT Admissions. Who was the first woman graduate? Accessed October 2021 at https://mitadmissions.org/help/faq/first-woman-graduate/ .

Later she became the first female instructor there as well.

She is now seen as one of the founders of the home economics movement in the United States.

She wasn’t just a “scientist” in a lab; she was an activist who felt it her duty to take her knowledge and findings and transfer that knowledge out into the communities where she lived and worked:

“She was an activist for nutrition, foods education, child protection, public health, women’s rights, and the application of scientific principles to everyday living for the family.” ^[11]Andress, Elizabeth. Celebrate Eating Together. Athens, Georgia: National Center for Home Food Preservation. 21 November 2017. Accessed October 2021 at https://preservingfoodathome.com/2017/11/21/celebrate-eating-together/

She became the founding President of the American Home Economics Association in 1908. The association was renamed in 1994 to the “American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences.”

Themes

• 2021 — FCS Ties It All Together
• 2020 — Dining in for FCSsuccess
• 2019 — Neighbors as Family
• 2017 — Financial aspects of family mealtime
• 2015 — Dining In for Healthy Families
• 2014 — Dining In for Healthy Families

The 2021 theme, “FCS Ties It All Together”, emphasized how Family and Consumer Sciences takes knowledge from many different compartments and brings it all together to make it work better for families and consumers. An apron summed up the theme because you “tie one on”, and aprons are a protective piece of equipment that also help promote a safe, hygienic working environment.

Resources

Toolkit which includes a sample proclamation: https://www.aafcs.org/aafcs-events/all-events/fcsday

Ellen Swallow Richards (Encyclopaedia Britannica)

Robinson, Lynne. Ellen Swallow Richards: The Most Influential Scientist You Probably Never Heard Of (Until Now). JOM 66, 15–20 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-013-0838-2 (link to PDF)

Walsh, Elizabeth A. Ellen Swallow Richards and the “Science of Right Living”: 19th century foundations for practice research supporting individual, social and ecological resilience and environmental justice. Journal of Urban Management, Volume 7, Issue 3, 2018, Pages 131-140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jum.2018.12.004

Sources

Andress, Elizabeth. Celebrate Eating Together. Athens, Georgia: National Center for Home Food Preservation. 21 November 2017. Accessed October 2021 at https://preservingfoodathome.com/2017/11/21/celebrate-eating-together/

Bock, Nancy. Family & Consumer Sciences Day (FCS Day), “Dining In for #FCSsuccess”. American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.aafcs.org/events/event-description?CalendarEventKey=67549e96-36b7-46f9-bc95-71d5cd94cfd3

Celebrate Family & Consumer Sciences Day by “Dining In” for Healthy Families on December 3rd! Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina. 17 October 2019. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.farmtoschoolcoalitionnc.org/news/detail/celebrate-family-consumer-sciences-day-by-dining-in-for-healthy-families-on-december-3rd

Chastain, Lindsey. Extension Educators from Oklahoma Cooperative Extension celebrate Family & Consumer Sciences Day. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Tulsa World Magazine. 25 November 2015. Accessed October 2021 at https://tulsaworld.com/communities/skiatook/news/extension-educators-from-oklahoma-cooperative-extension-celebrate-family-consumer-sciences-day/article_7fdbed76-61f2-5fca-b4b8-37dd846e7194.html

“Dine In” on Family & Consumer Sciences Day, December 3, 2017! AAFCS, Pennsylvania Affiliate. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.pafcs.org/fcsday

“Dine In” with us! Oregon Association of Family & Consumer Sciences. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.orafcs.org/events/facs-day

Family and Consumer Sciences Day 2021. American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.aafcs.org/aafcs-events/all-events/fcsday

Join Us for “Dining In” Day – National Family & Consumer Sciences Day. University of Maine Cooperative Extension Service. 28 October 2019. Accessed October 2021 at https://extension.umaine.edu/4h/2019/10/28/join-us-for-dining-in-day-national-family-consumer-sciences-day/

Lovett, Edith. FCS Day set for December 3rd. Somerset, Kentucky: Commonwealth Journal. 1 December 2019. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.somerset-kentucky.com/news/lifestyles/fcs-day-set-for-december-3rd/article_6b351862-4c5d-5be8-a607-6556011c24c1.html

Maryland Governor Recognizes Morgan Family & Consumer Sciences Day Celebration. Maryland: Morgan State University. 28 January 2016. Accessed October 2021 at https://news.morgan.edu/maryland-governor-recognizes-morgan-family-consumer-sciences-day-celebration/

Moreno, Richard. Pair of CWU Students Involved in Effort to Declare Family & Consumer Science Day in the State of Washington. Central Washington University. 3 December 2019. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.cwu.edu/news/features/pair-cwu-students-involved-effort-declare-family-consumer-science-day-state-washington

Pickett, Melissa. Dining in for healthy families: Celebrate Family & Consumer Sciences Day. Colorado State University. 2 December 2016. Accessed October 2021 at https://source.colostate.edu/dining-healthy-families-celebrate-family-consumer-sciences-day/

Shelden, Darla. Oklahoma County OSU Extension celebrates Family & Consumer Sciences Day. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: The Oklahoma City Sentinel. 24 February 2021. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.city-sentinel.com/education/oklahoma-county-osu-extension-celebrates-family-consumer-sciences-day/article_345e6a2b-8c5f-56b3-bad2-b39552458438.html

Sleziak-Johnson, Sarah. “Dine in!” on December 3. Michigan State University Extension. 27 November 2017. Accessed October 2021 at https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/dine_in_on_december_3.

Treber, Michelle. I’m “Dining In”! Ohio State University Extension. 2 December 2019. Accessed October 2021 at https://livehealthyosu.com/2019/12/02/im-dining-in/