Helping Your Child Make Healthy Choices
Spring is a time for awakening, growth, and beautiful sunny days of blooming trees and flowers. It is also the time that our children are feeling excited about the final days of school and various spring events. We can help our children become grounded by asking them these questions:
- How do you treat your friends and family?
- What does your family or teacher tell you that helps you become happy and successful?
- What are your accomplishments at home or school?
- What is your legacy or your contribution to your family or classmates?
- What type of support do you need from your family or teacher to achieve your legacy or contribution to your family or classmates?
- Who has had the greatest impact on your life and how did he or she inspire you?
Family Dinner Discussions
Some families like to ask their children one of these questions each night when eating the family dinner. 
When you have younger children, it may be easier to discuss each question as part of your quality time together before bedtime. And other families like to include one of these questions each time they meet for a weekly family meeting. A weekly family meeting provides the family with an opportunity to:
- Have family members discuss what is happening in their lives and brainstorm solutions on challenges
- Discuss the upcoming week of family activities
- Review the weekly chore list and adjust as needed for scheduling conflicts
- Plan for upcoming family outings, vacations, and activities
- Identify community service and church related activities that the family can participate in to give back to their community
Family Meetings
When organizing a family meeting, family members can rotate facilitating the meeting or taking notes. Much success this spring as you fully engage your family in a new beginning of growth and learning.
Mary Ann
Copyright © 2020 by GenParenting
Mary Ann Burke, Ed.D., Digital Education Expert, is a substitute distance learning teacher for Oak Grove School District in San Jose, California and the author of STUDENT-ENGAGED ASSESSMENT: Strategies to Empower All Learners (Rowman & Littlefield: 2020). Dr. Burke creates digital language arts and substitute teaching K – 12 activities for teachers and parents. She is the Cofounder of the Genparenting.com blog. Burke is the former Director II of Categorical & Special Projects for the Santa Clara County Office of Education that supports 31 school districts serving 272,321 students in Santa Clara County. She is also a previous Director – State & Federal Compliance for Oakland Unified School District, the former Director – Grantwriter for the Compton Unified School District, and was the initial VISTA Director for the Community Partnership Coalition in southern California. Much of her work focuses on creating innovative digital trainings and partnership programs for teachers and families to support students’ learning. These programs were featured as a best practice at a National Title I Conference, California’s Title I Conferences, AERA Conferences, an ASCD Conference, the NASSP Conference, and statewide educator conferences.