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Laying the Foundation for Healthy Relationships in Our Community 

School is out for many and that may mean activities, camps and vacations or it may mean lazy days of playing in the backyard and enjoying the local swimming holes. Regardless of family plans for the summer, parents across the board agree that it is important to keep kids active, both in mind and in body.

Here is something simple you can do to help the children and teens in your life become agents of change in our community.

At the dinner table, in the car or while just enjoying family time together, introduce the concept of respect as part of healthy relationships. You might also mention the importance of respecting the environment in which we live. Recycling is an example of environmental respect.

Respect
Have each person contribute an idea about respect (e.g. what it means to them, an example of a respectful behavior, talk about how it feels to be respected, how they show respect to friends and family, how teachers show respect to students etc). If students cannot think of ideas you may need to provide some prompts by asking questions about their behavior and experiences.

Kindness
Ask each person to tell you something about kindness (e.g. what they think it is, an example of a kind act or a kind thought, something they do that is kind or something they might do in the future). The intent is to get your kids to think about kindness and highlight that it should be part of their everyday activities. How do they feel when they are kind and when others are kind to them?

Follow-up Activity

• Encourage participants to create a poster or drawing to show their interpretations of respect and kindness.
• Ask participants to do something kind and report back about the experience.

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