Some scholars have taken the position that families and communities play a vital role in preparing children for the future. Existing research suggests families are one of the strongest socializing agents that transmit social norms and mores to children. Families can teach children to distinguish acceptable and unacceptable behavior, eliminate unacceptable behavior, defer gratification, and respect the rights and property of others. Antithetically, families can teach children aggressive, antisocial, and violent behavior. The family is perceived to encompass both physiological and socio-psychological aspects of a child's development. Families and communities appear to be crucial points of intervention in controlling and preventing delinquency. Providing parents with knowledge and skills about adequate child-rearing techniques and individual characteristics of the child and the neighborhood can help them prepare their children for the future. An appendix contains multi-perspective improvement records for youth, families, and parents and sample performance measures. 38 references, 7 tables, and 1 figure