Mitchell County Home Health Care Public Health

Teach valuable life lessons at your dinner table!  Visit with your family members and commit to spending a specific length of time in Making Your Family Meals Your Natural Chat Room!

“ Creating this ritual where you turn off the TV, ignore the phone and just spend quality time together is crucial to helping your children feel emotionally, spiritually and mentally balanced. We all can generate a list of reasons why we cannot possibly fit dinner with the family into our schedule. The time has come to say enough with the excuses and just do it. Trust me, it means more to your kids’ futures than you think. If I can find the time to have meals with my family, so can you. ”

Jamie Lee Curtis,

Actress and Family Day supporter

Talking To Your Kids

Start talking with your kids at an early age and take time to explain things to your child in basic terms that are easily understandable.  Your child will become more comfortable talking to you about “difficult” topics such as drugs, alcohol and smoking.

 Listen carefully to your child. Educate yourself so you can answer his or her questions. As children get older, their questions get more difficult, so you need to be prepared.

Peer pressure may play a pivotal role in a child’s decision to use drugs, drink or smoke. However, encourage your child to be their own person and make their own decisions.

Acknowledge that marijuana, alcohol and tobacco are substances that are out there and that many people use them. Explain that nicotine and prescription drugs are also "abuse-able" and should be treated the same as alcohol and illegal drugs.

Tell your child the truth—that drugs, alcohol and tobacco may make them feel good for a while (by activating brain chemicals). Unfortunately, that feeling is brief and cause unhealthy physical effects.  

Try to impress on your child the long-term consequences of drinking, tobacco or drug use and its effect on something they enjoy doing, such as sports, academic achievement, hobbies or friendships.

Point out that adolescents are in a period of life during which they need their brains to operate at full efficiency. These substances can impair brain function.

Make the point that repeated “chemical activation” will eventually cause  people to crave that chemical and want to keep using it even if it hurts them.

Explain that these substances may dull a painful part of their lives for a brief period, but it will never change or help the underlying situation.

Write a family “contract” established to make your opinions on drug use, drinking and smoking clear. Be consistent with family rules.