For the younger child, it’s very important to keep in mind that age-appropriate activities are the most beneficial.
• Read stories, listen to music, share other creative activities that have a spiritual or religious theme.
• Remember that all children have limited attention spans. Providing a quiet activity, such as a religiously themed story book, helps children sit through services that may outlast their interest.
• Make time for activities that involve other families who share your beliefs and priorities.
• Encourage your child to talk to you about what he thinks about spiritual things. Ask questions—you may gain an insight far beyond his years.
• Answer your child’s questions as honestly as you can. There’s nothing wrong with saying, “I’m not sure I have that answer—there are things I’m still trying to figure out. What do you think about that?”

For the older child, this is often an age of discovery and self-awareness.
• Encourage your child to talk, to ask questions, to share his/her spiritual beliefs and concepts. You don’t have to have all of the answers; just knowing that you have questions, too, creates a bond.
• Encourage your child to talk to other adults who have strong spiritual commitments or beliefs. Exposure to different concepts and beliefs can help a young person find his own way.
• Instill a sense that maybe there’s more than one answer, maybe all the questions haven’t been asked.

To learn more about this asset and the other thirty nine, go to www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets

Written by Diane Rumer.

For the younger child:
• Take a walk! Good exercise, plus you’ll get to know your neighborhood and the people who are in it! Stop to talk, and introduce yourself and your kids.
• Set up a “safe place” for your kids. Ask close neighbors to keep a key to your house, and to let your kids come there in an emergency if you’re not around.
• Organize family-oriented neighborhood gatherings—it’s important for children to know and recognize the people who live near their home.
• “National Night Out”* is a good and fun way to start building neighbor-relations.”
For the older child:
• Have them help you organize informal neighborhood activities. Is there a park on your block? How about pick-up basketball on Tuesday nights?
• Look at any place people congregate as an opportunity to meet and greet—front steps, the laundry room, the neighborhood pool—all these have the potential for meeting your neighbors.
• Are you comfortable with allowing neighbor kids to play basketball in your driveway? Or to cut through your yard on their way to school? Then make sure they know they’re welcome.

As always, use common sense. Teach children to greet adults, and to speak when spoken to, but to never enter a stranger’s home, neighbor or not. There definitely are some “bad guys” out there, but there are also some very “good guys”, and a lot of them are your neighbors!

To learn more about this asset and the other thirty nine, go to www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets

*For more information on National Night Out, go to : www.nationaltownwatch.org/nno/project365.html

This article was written by Diane Rumer for Kenton County Alliance. www.KentonCountyAlliance.org ; www.youtube.com/kentoncountyalliance

Young children somehow figure out the “power game” at a very early age—ask any mother of a two year old. It’s just one more step in growing up. It’s important that this sense of having some control, some influence is nurtured and developed in a positive way. Here are some tips:
• Everyone likes to do things their own way, and children are no exception. Let them try, even if you know there’s a faster and better way. As long as there’s not a safety issue involved, it’s a good way to learn.
• Fighting over clothes usually isn’t worth it, unless there’s a formal occasion involved! Kids have their own ideas about what they like to wear. Sometimes a compromise works, and something as simple as limiting choices is the answer. Pick out two shirts and ask “Which do you want to wear today?” The main thing is to let them feel they have some say in the matter.
• Let children pick out what toys they want to play with. So what if Mary likes to push cars around on the carpet, while Jack plays with a pan and a spoon? Children play to please themselves—they don’t know what they’re supposed to like.
• Coloring is creative and fun—and a great time for choices. Skies don’t always have to be blue, and grass isn’t always green. Encourage children to do their own thing!

For the middle years to teen aged child:
• Personal power builds self esteem. Every child needs to know that they have some control on their own circumstances. Help your child set goals and achieve them.
• Problem solving is another way to have personal power. Brainstorming is a good way to point out that problems may have more than one solution. Help then decide which solution, or solutions, would be best.
• Self esteem also develops from team work. Service activities, assigned household chores—these all give children a sense of accomplishment and power.
• As your child develops personal power, make sure they realize that with this power also comes responsibility. Let them know you think they can handle it!
• It’s important that children also realize that there are some things in life cannot be controlled—even adults can’t change some things. It’s a hard life lesson to learn, but even trying to understand and accept this gives a sense of personal power.

To learn more about this asset and the other thirty nine, go to www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets

Written by Diane Rumer for Kenton County Alliance.

Active youth who participate in team sports are less likely to smoke tobacco or marijuana or use other illicit drugs, but they are more likely to frequently consume alcohol.
While research provides only theories as to cause and effect of this athlete/alcohol link, experts say one way to discourage these youth from drinking is to educate them on the detrimental impact alcohol has on their minds and bodies, as well as their athletic performance.
Sobering statistics to share with your young, aspiring athletes (source -AmericanAthleticInstitute.org):
• Approximately 14 days of training effect is lost after one night of drinking = Two weeks worth of training, wasted.

• Alcohol suppresses your training hormones for up to four days = You may show up to practice, but no improvement comes, because the hormones you need to gain training results and conditioning are not there.

• Athletes need to be fast on their feet and quick to react, but alcohol impairs reaction time for up to 12 hours after consumption = Head to practice the next day (following a night of drinking) and it will show in your performance.

• Before a high school athlete even steps foot onto the field, court, ice, etc., overall performance potential is lowered by about 11.4% after recent heavy drinking = Your potential of achieving personal “best” just decreased.
A quote to consider, by John Underwood, Director of The American Athletic Institute:
“Remember when you are partying, that somewhere, someone is training…and when you meet them, they will beat you.”
Know! that optimal performance and competitive edge, both on and off the playing field, begins with a healthy, substance-free mind and body.
Know! Parent Tips are designed to educate and empower parents of middle school students so that they will have sufficient, accurate, and relevant information to have conversations with their child about the risks associated with substance abuse. Visit HelpThemKnow.com to sign up to receive the twice-monthly Know! ParentTips.

It is vital that books be introduced to children at an early age. Children need to be read to—on a daily basis. They need to become familiar with, and handle books so that they learn to treat them with respect.

For the young child:
• Make books part of their world. Give books as gifts, or make going to the library a special treat. Start with board books, but even these should be treated special.
• Have a designated reading time every day. A favorite chair, a shelf for their books will make this time extra special for both you and your child.
• Read, read, read — this is the single most important thing you can do to with your child to get him/her ready for school.
• All kinds of books fascinate children, but books about animals seem to be their favorites. Your librarian can recommend some really good ones to you!

Parents need to encourage older children and teens to set aside time to read just for fun:
• Take your child with you to look for books at garage sales, library sales, or consignment shops.
• Let your child read to you—children are so proud of themselves when they learn to read—let them know you think it’s quite an accomplishment, too!
• Ask your teenager about his/her favorite book. Take the time to read it and compare notes.
• Books and magazine subscriptions make great gifts for any occasion.
• Schedule a Family Reading Night once a week—no TV, cell phone, or computer.

For more ideas, go to www.searchinstitute.org, and see The Best of Building Assets Together: Favorite Group Activities That Help Youth Succeed by Jolene Roehlkepartain

Article written by Diane Rumer for Kenton County Alliance. www.KentonCountyAlliance.org
859-760-2051. www.youtube.com/kentoncountyalliance

The report, based on data from 2009 calls to U.S. poison centers, found that sedatives/hypnotics/ antipsychotics; cardiovascular drugs, opioids and acetaminophen combinations were most frequently associated with poison-related deaths. In all, poison centers reported 1,158 poison-related fatalities in 2009.

Children younger than six were involved in the majority of all poison exposures reported to poison centers in 2009, but accounted for just 1.8 percent of poison-related fatalities that year. Most fatalities occurred in people between the ages of 20 and 59.”

This is an excerpt from the Spring ’11, volume 2, issue1, Kentucky Regional Poison Control Newsletter, which can be found at http://www.krpc.com/Home/Dynamic/NewsletterSpring2011
Secure and monitor all medications. Those that are no longer needed can be disposed of at the following police departments during that department’s regular business hours:

Erlanger, 505 Commonwealth Avenue, Erlanger
Kenton County, 11777 Madison Pike, Independence
Villa Hills, 719 Rogers Road, Villa Hills
Park Hills, 1106 Amsterdam Road, Park Hills
Ft. Wright, 409 Kyles Lane, Fort Wright
Edgewood, 385 Dudley Road, Edgewood
Campbell Co., 8774 Constable Drive, Alexandria
Florence, 8100 Ewing Dr., Government Center, Florence
Boone Co. Sheriff’s Office, 3000 Conrad Lane, Burlington
Highland Heights City Building, Highland Heights
Newport, 998 Monmouth St., Newport
Ft. Thomas, 130 N. Ft. Thomas Ave., Ft. Thomas

Submitted by Kathy Nafus, Coordinator, Kenton County Alliance, 859-760-2051. www.KentonCountyAlliance.org

(Support refers to your availability and the warmth you display toward your child.)
(Control refers to discipline, accountability and how closely you monitor your child.)

Authoritative: High Support/High Control
Authoritarian: Low Support/High Control
Indulgent: High Support/Low Control
Neglectful: Low Support/Low Control

If you fall under the description of indulgent, you may want to reconsider your parenting style. Parents high on warmth yet low on accountability place their children at triple the risk of heavy drinking. But simply being a strong disciplinarian isn’t the answer either. On the opposite end of the spectrum, authoritarian parents who are high on discipline yet low on warmth place their children at still double the risk of heavy drinking.

Research shows that youth least prone to heavy drinking have parents who practice an authoritative style of parenting; a warm, loving and nurturing relationship with an equally high sense of accountability and follow through when it comes to discipline.

If you practice an authoritative style of parenting, you’re on the right track. If you fall under one of the other categories, you may want to adjust accordingly.
Source: Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 71, 539-543, July 2010.
Find this article at http://www.helpthemknow.com/know/cms/parent-tip-archive/178-parent-tip-know-to-examine-your-parenting-style.html

For additional information visit the Drug-Free Action Alliance’s Know! website at www.helpthemknow.com

Submitted by Kenton County Alliance. Find us online at www.KentonCountyAlliance.org
And on Facebook.

The most important thing to teach a young child is to have a sense of self, to let him/her know that sometimes people do bad things, and to assure them that they can always go to adults they know for help if they’re scared.
• Distraction can be a great tool with young children. It’s easy to offer them a more attractive, positive choice when you see that they are making a bad choice, or being influenced by another child’s bad behavior. This introduces the idea that they can make choices.
• Help your young child to find his/her “voice.” Teach them to speak up when they sense something isn’t right. Let them know it’s okay to say “No, I don’t like that.”, or “No, I don’t want to do that.” Teach them to walk away, and/or to tell a trusted adult.
• If you see one child pressuring another to do something wrong, talk to both children. Explain to the child doing the pressuring why this is wrong and unkind. Explain to the other child why this is wrong, and that he can say “No”, or he can walk away—that he does have a choice.

For the middle years to older child, let them know that dangerous situations exist, that they need to be avoided, and that he/she does have a “voice and a choice”.
• Talk with your child about peer pressure, especially how it relates to unhealthy “rites of passage” that some pre-teens and teens take part in. Let them know that using drugs and alcohol, engaging in risky sexual behavior, and going along with the crowd on other questionable behaviors does not make them look more “grown up”.
• Encourage your adolescent to think for his-/herself. Teach them to be alert. If they feel something isn’t right—to go with that feeling–that “inner voice” needs to be listened to when they’re faced with risky situations. Let them know you believe in them, expect them to use good judgement, and to do the right thing.
• Reinforce assertive, but not aggressive behavior. Walking away is, many times, the best way.
• Talk to them about what being a real friend means. Real friends don’t pressure their friends into doing something that only gets them into trouble. And that, sometimes, the best choice is new friends.

To learn more about this asset and the other thirty nine, go to www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets

Written by Diane Rumer for Kenton County Alliance. Visit us at www.KentonCountyAlliance.org or on Facebook.