Love and Limits to Strengthen Families

What a night to kick off a program with seven incredible families. Strengthening Families is a curriculum from Iowa State University that helps promote family communication and addresses issues such as substance abuse, behavior problems, and develops positive social skills for families. The program is shown to reduce and delay substance abuse in youth and give families the tools they need to be stronger and withstand outside negative influences.
The program which is being delivered in Robeson County as a cooperative effort between the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) and 4-H Youth Development departments is targeted at families with youth between the ages of 10-14.
During our first meeting the parents worked with Christy Strickland and Janice Fields, Family Consumer Sciences Extension Agents on using love and limits. In another room Shea Ann DeJarnette and Aggie Rogers with 4-H, worked with the youth on having goals and dreams. After the first session apart, everyone came together to work as a team. They played games, like spin the bottle, stating something they liked when the bottle was pointed their way, to the human knot, showing it took team work from everyone to make things happen. After games the parents and youth checked out the treasure maps the youth made, which initiated a family conversation about goals and dreams for the youth and parents. By the end of the night, everyone was hugging and excited about our next family learning adventure next week.
The Strengthening Families program is a seven week commitment. The families involved volunteered to be part of the program which is funded by United Way. If you would like to know more about this program, please contact Christy Strickland, Extension Agent for Family Consumer Sciences, at (910) 671-3276 or Christy_Stricklkand@ncsu.edu.