 |
Conversation Starters Webinar Series
Keep an eye out for a two-part webinar series on starting prevention conversation with kids, coming later in the semester.
|
|
Virtual Prevention Programs
Don't forget that FCD can provide our full menu of services online. Contact us to find out more!
|
|
Quick Links
| 
|
|
|
Talking is protective
Data from the FCD Student Attitudes and Behavior Survey shows that students who talk about substances with the adults in their lives are less likely to drink alcohol than students who don't have such conversations. Initiating prevention conversations is one of the most effective ways a trusted adult like a parent or teacher can promote health in a student's life.
Getting the conversation started can be daunting, though, especially when kids are young. This e-journal series will provide suggestions on how to begin these discussions with students, starting when they are young and continuing through their high school years. For this first edition, we will focus on the lower grades.
|
The lower school years
It's never too early to talk about staying healthy. Remember that young kids are naturally curious. They often have many questions about how the world works and see you as a trustworthy guide.
You can nurture a young person's interest in seeking trusted sources of health information by validating their questions about alcohol and other drugs. Start by saying, "That's a really great question," and "Let's talk about it," before beginning your response.
When you affirm a student for asking their question and then wholeheartedly agree to discuss it with them, they'll likely feel rewarded for speaking up. They'll get the message, too, that talking about alcohol and other drugs is not taboo. Plus, in the event that they don't understand a part of your response, a student praised for initially asking a question is more likely to seek the clarifications they need.
|
Beginning the conversation
You may be wondering how to start prevention conversations with elementary schoolers. Be reassured that there is a wide variety of healthy ways to communicate. Try beginning with these age-appropriate themes.
Defining Health
Start with health! As young people grow, they can always be served by understanding what health is, why it's valuable, and how to make healthy decisions. Helpful conversation starters on this topic include asking children:
- What does it mean to be healthy?
- What does it feel like to be healthy?
- What things do you do to stay healthy every day?
We can guide students to see that a healthy life feels rewarding and is built through daily habits. Defining healthy choices like brushing our teeth, napping during naptime, and climbing during recess help young people understand what health looks like and how they have control over healthy decisions for their bodies and minds. The example of eating healthy foods is a great place to introduce how we can make healthy decisions about what we put into our bodies.
Pointing Out Health
Try identifying students' healthy actions during the day by acknowledging their choices with health-based language like "Wow, what a healthy choice you made today by:
- ...eating those carrots."
- ...washing your hands."
- ...taking a break to calm down."
- ...cheering up your friend!"
Whenever you can, avoid using moralizing language about a child's "good" or "bad" choice. If a child makes a less than healthy choice, you can ask, "What is a healthier choice for right now?" and then guide them towards that alternative.
By sticking with health-based language about making choices, you'll equip young people to see alcohol and other drug use from a health perspective.
Healthy Highs
Kids already enjoy play, adventure, and comfort. At FCD Prevention Works, we teach kids that substance-free pleasures are healthy highs that can naturally help them feel well. The more that kids enjoy healthy highs as they grow, the less likely they are to seek alcohol or other drug highs.
Help your students create an ever-evolving healthy highs list. Ask kids what makes them giggle, relax, or feel on top of the world! Their choices could include many different items, like:
- Spending time with pets or in nature
- Eating favorite foods
- Playing games or sports with friends
- Giving and receiving hugs from family
- Immersing themselves in stories through reading or movies
- Listening to, playing, or dancing to music.
Help your students get really specific about their own healthy highs. Post their lists somewhere visible. Then the next time a child is having a difficult day, they can refer to their list to give themselves a natural boost! Little kids can then learn that they have the power to identify and change how they feel in safe ways.
Pointing Out Healthy Adults
To prevent alcohol and other drug use later, it is important for young children to know how to seek out and establish healthy relationships with trusted adults. Connections with caretakers, educators, coaches, family friends, counselors, and many other types of adults can be protective for children.
Ask children whom they look up to and trust. Help them understand the value of trustworthiness in an adult who can support them. Just as important, help students grow their own circle of trusted adults by brainstorming who else could join their healthy adult team. If possible, help them add a few trusted adults who you know have healthy relationships to alcohol and other drugs. The more trusted adults in a child's life, the more opportunities they will have to benefit from child-adult prevention conversations.
|
A lifelong conversation about health
Guiding healthy kids involves equipping them first with language and then with tools to define and decide how to start and stay healthy. Alcohol and other drug conversations that start young and create space for kids to feel empowered can establish a pattern for health.
Effective prevention discussions are lifelong. We encourage you to converse with your lower school students to help them learn about alcohol and other drugs from a health perspective. As a trusted, willing adult, you can be an invaluable protective factor.
|
Reference
FCD Prevention Works, part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. (2009-2020). FCD Student Attitudes and Behavior Survey Database.
|
Authors
Morgan Jones joined FCD Prevention Works as a Prevention Specialist in 2018. Morgan holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication Studies. Prior to coming to FCD, Morgan worked in both educational support and customer service.
Stacey Wisniewski is a Senior Prevention Specialist with FCD Prevention Works. Prior to joining FCD in 2016, Stacey worked with adolescents in several teaching and mentoring positions in and out of schools. Stacey holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Literature from Arcadia University. When she is not working for FCD, Stacey works with groups and supports individuals who are maintaining a spiritual path to recovery.
|
|
|
