Top Ten Back-to-School Tips to Help Your Child Thrive

From Challenge Success, http://www.challengesuccess.org

 With kids back in school, these practical tips are helpful reminders for ways to build resilience, share your values, and support the overall health and well-being of your children.

1. Ask your child: “How was your day? Learn anything interesting? Get to spend time with friends?” instead of “How did you do on the math test?”
2. Resist the urge to correct the errors in your child’s homework. It’s your child’s work, not yours.
3. Work done with integrity is more important than an A. Pressure to achieve only high grades can make students resort to cheating.
4. Make time for PDF: playtime, downtime, family time. Research shows PDF is critical for overall well-being.
5. Create a technology-free environment during mealtimes. Every adult and child can benefit from a break from constant interruptions and distractions.
6. Collaborate with your child’s teachers. Assume best intentions and work together to solve problems.
7. Fight the temptation to bring your child’s forgotten homework to school. Kids gain resilience by learning from small failures.
8. An extra hour of sleep is more valuable than an extra hour of studying. Research shows sleep deprivation can be associated with depression and anxiety.
9. When your child wants to talk with you, stop what you are doing and engage. Does “I hate school” really mean something else: “I am being bullied” or “I don’t fit in?”
10. Help your child develop his or her interests and strengths. Discover what your child really loves to do outside of school, not what you think a college admissions officer would like to see on an application.

Winchester Coalition for A Safer Community

winchestercoalition@gmail.com

https://winchestercoalitionsafercommunity.com

As we get ready for school ending and the summer months are upon us, we think it is important for our community to think about our kids, the free time they will have this summer, and the risky situations that they might find themselves in. Some questions to ask ourselves:

• Do our kids have healthy activities to occupy their time: will they have jobs, be at camp, taking classes or enrolled in any programs?
• What parameters have we placed on daily activities, both during the day and at night? Have we set curfews? Do our kids have their own cars or access to Uber or Lyft?
• Do we have clear rules about cell phone use and can we reach our kids if we need them? Are there rules about responding to calls and messages from us?
• Do we know their friends and who they will be hanging out with?
• Are our kids hanging out in our fields and woods (e.g., Ginn, Manchester, Leonard, the Fells)?
• Do we know the parents of these friends and if the parents are at home when our kids are over? Do their friends’ parents share the same parenting philosophy regarding underage drinking and smoking/vaping?
• Do we fully understand what vaping is? Do we know the risks associated with vaping?
• What’s in the backpacks? Do they need a backpack during the summer?
• What’s in our liquor cabinets and “beer fridges” and should we monitor quantities so that we know if something is missing?
• What’s in our medicine cabinets? Do we have our prescription medication safeguarded?

Summer is a great time for our kids to relax and enjoy a break from the stress of the school year. Let’s help them have a happy and healthy summer!

Winchester Police Offer Springtime Information for Parents and Community Members

Materials From “Let’s Be Honest”: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2ekzkeki3mf4nct/AACHmSdw-wczGHgjgbx-AJW6a?dl=0

If you missed the screening of the film “If Only” in Winchester, you can see it in Woburn in March:

The Winchester Coalition For A Safer Community, housed within the Winchester Health Department, is a comprehensive community-based organization that works collaboratively with residents, town departments and agencies to reduce substance abuse, particularly in the youth community, and to foster healthy life choices through education.

The Coalition is one of 33 local nonprofits awarded a total of $10 million from Cummings Foundation through its new Sustaining Grants program, which provides funding for up to 10 years. This new grant extends the support originally awarded by the Cummings Foundation to the Coalition in 2014 as part of its $100K for 100 grant program.  We are thrilled and deeply honored to have been the beneficiary not only from substantial financial resources but also from the publicity and enhanced standing that comes with the Cummings Foundation’s support.  The Coalition deeply appreciates the Cummings Foundation’s commitment to community.  See https://www.cummingsfoundation.org/oneworldboston/sustaining_grants.htm for more about the grant.

In addition to the Sustaining Grant, Cummings Foundation also generously supports Winchester’s participation in INTERFACE, a mental health referral service that is free to Winchester residents.

If you want to know more about the Cummings Foundation, you can learn more about it by reading Bill Cummings’ new memoir, “Starting Small and Making It Big”: https://www.cummings.com/book/.  All proceeds from book sales go directly back into the Foundation to be given out as grants to deserving organizations!

The Coalition also gratefully acknowledges the generous financial support of the John and Mary Murphy Foundation, the Rotary Club of Winchester, the En Ka Society and Winchester Savings Bank as well as the continued support of Spry Moving & Storage and Peak Event Services for our annual Spring and Fall Safe Disposal Days.