Tips for Families

What you can do as a parent to help strengthen your family

• Get regular exercise, listen to your favorite music, meditate or pray.
• Plan ahead if possible so that resources will be in place when needed—such as temporary child care.
• Build a small savings to take care of minor repairs.
• Use family, friends, faith-based communities and other community agencies such as the YMCA to increase strength.
• Look for programs that offer family-to-family help and find a mentor willing to listen.

Ways you can build a relationship to your child/children

• Pay attention to each child as an individual.
• Joke and laugh with children.
• Know what the child’s interests are and talk to the child about them.
• Respect each child’s approach to situations and people.
• Ask each child to tell you what makes them happy and sad and respect their feelings.
• Show children that you are happy they are there.
• Listen to children when they speak to you and respond appropriately to their questions.
• Respect cultural, linguistic and religious beliefs.
• Smile and be genuine.
• Respond to children consistently.

For more helpful tips and ideas, download The Parent Ambassadors Booklet:  A Parent’s Guide to Participation Using the Strengthening Families Approach.