Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana

Jefferson County Preventionist: Tools For Your Child's Success

As the 2024-25 school term begins, this is an ideal time to introduce and reintroduce parents and guardians to the ParentingMontana.org website. This website was established in 2018 following a survey of parents throughout Montana. So, this is a program that was developed from the responses of MT parents and therefore is home grown.

The MT Department of Public Health and Human Services and Montana State University’s Center for Health and Safety has sponsored the program and continues to update the content.

This website is very vibrant. Parents who use the website can participate in keeping the content alive by asking for topics which are not presently addressed.

As I have presented the Parenting Montana website at Kindergarten roundups, parent-teacher conferences and other events, parents will invariably comment: “This is great,” “So easy to use.” The program addresses ages 0-19 and topics pertinent to those ages: risk taking, stress, tantrums, homework, chores, making friends, anger, confidence, routines, bullying, back talk, discipline, conflict, eating – to name a few.

Following is a sample of the content for Back Talk which appears at various ages. This one is for a 7 year old.

Why Back Talk?

When Montana parents were surveyed, “back talk” rose to the top of the parenting challenges listed. Whether it’s your five-year-old screaming, “I hate you,” your second grader shouting, “No, I won’t go!” when you need them to leave a friend’s house, or your nine-year-old crying, “It’s all your fault,” when they’ve spilled a plate of spaghetti on the floor, establishing healthy ways of responding to life’s most challenging moments in ways that do not harm them self or others are vital skills your child needs to thrive.

Today, in the short term, teaching skills to respond to upset or disagreements in healthy ways can create

• greater opportunities for connection, cooperation, and enjoyment;

• trust in each other; and

• a sense of wellbeing and motivation to engage.

Tomorrow, in the long term, managing conflict in your child

• develops a sense of safety, security, and a belief in self;

• builds skills in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making; and

• deepens family trust and intimacy.

This content is then followed by the 5 Step Process which is used for all ages and every topic:

1. Get Input: Get your child to engage in a conversation, Create ownership, Build skills to be successful;

2: Teach: Demonstrate a task, Convey purpose of the task, Equip your child with knowledge and skills

3: Practice: Learn by doing, Apply the learning, Grow habits and confidence, Support a growth mindset, Provide opportunities to handle failures

4. Support: Monitor, provide feedback, Effect thinking, Reinforce successes, Grow responsibility, Apply logical consequences when needed;

5. Recognize: Recognize your child’s effort and success, Grow motivation.

Each of the libraries in Jefferson County have Parenting Montana rack cards with various subject matter and topics. These are available for the taking.

This is just the tip of the iceberg for “tools for your child’s success”. Isn’t this what we want for all children.

 
 

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