This past Saturday, September 9, was Grandparents Day, a special day for kids to spend quality time getting spoiled by their good ole Grams and Gramps.
But for more than 100,000 children in Arizona, their grandparents or other adult relatives are more than extended family, but legal guardians and primary caregivers. Sometimes the mother and father are completely out of the child’s life. Other times a parent is still in the picture, but unable to provide the proper support a child needs.
Being a “second-time” parent can present its own set of challenges. Each generation is different, as are parenting styles. Grandparents can find themselves suddenly yet once-again responsible for several children, some of which, given the situation, may have medical needs or behavioral problems.
To help, we offer free workshops that can help to “refresh” parenting skills of grandparents or acts as a starting point for relatives with no previous child-rearing experience.
Our Guiding Good Choices workshop series enables us to customize workshops for specific groups, like grandparents. The program seeks to promote healthy youth development by preventing teen alcohol and tobacco use, experiment with drugs and to resist peer pressure. It also helps to strengthen the family bond, improve family management practices and reduce conflict.
The five-week program has been proven to improve parenting skills, promote parent-child interactions, reduce substance abuse and lower adolescent depression and self-harm. Studies have shown that children of participants in the Guiding Good Choices had:
- 40% lower rates of alcohol and marijuana use
- 54% less progression to more serious substance abuse
- 26% greater likelihood of remaining drug free if not already using drugs
- 38% lower rates of self-harm
- 28% fewer feelings of worthlessness
Guardians of teens ages 12 to 18-years olds may want to look into additional workshops as adolescents that age are especially prone to peer pressure and difficult social situations. Our Active Parenting of Teens Workshop is an evidence-based program that combines video, activities and discussion to help parents raise responsible teens who are able to resist negative peer pressure. The program demonstrates non-violent discipline techniques and effective encouragement skills
The teen-focused program is taught in six two-hour sessions and includes our Parent’s Guide Workbook. Workshop topics are:
- The Active Parent (Teens today)
- Winning Cooperation
- Responsibility & Discipline
- Building courage, Character & Self-Esteem
- Drugs, Sexuality, & Violence l
- Drugs, Sexuality, & Violence ll
For more information or to register a group for a Guiding Good Choices workshop or Active Parenting of Teens workshop, contact Kim Obert at Kim.Obert@drugfreeaz.org.
