Get Involved
- Family Day-A day to eat dinner with your children
The 4th Monday in September - September 27, 2010
History | Mission | Promote | Items | Celebrations | In The News | Committee | Partnerships
The National
Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA),
created Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children™ in
2001, as a national effort to promote family dinners as an effective
way to reduce substance abuse among children and teens. Family
Day is celebrated on the fourth Monday in September.
Kansas Family Partnership, Inc. has celebrated and helped to promote Family Day in Kansas since 2002. Family Day emphasizes the importance of regular family activities and encourages Americans to make family dinners a regular feature of their lives. Parental engagement is the single most potent weapon in preventing substance use and abuse among youth!
Research by CASA at Columbia University consistently finds that the
more often children eat dinner with their families, the less likely
they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.
The conversations that go
hand-in-hand with dinner will help you learn more about your children’s
lives and better understand the challenges they face.
See the lefthand column on this page for more helpful tips in communicating as a parent or guardian with your children.
Begin making family dinners a regular part of your daily routine!
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Mission and Goals of Family Day Committee |
MISSION:
The Family Day Committee will work together to promote Family Day-A Day to Eat Dinner With Your Children™ within the state of Kansas to create awareness that the more often youth eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or do drugs (based on research by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University-CASA).
GOALS:
To educate Kansans about the importance of parental or guardian involvement in the lives of youth as a manner of lowering the risk of substance abuse;
To promote a message of prevention for youth by encouraging communication between parents, grandparents or guardians and youth;
To provide science-based prevention information to the public with regard to Family Day-A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children™; and
To encourage businesses, faith communities, schools, community groups and others to support Family Day activities and be involved in promoting it in Kansas.
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How to Promote Family Day |
To assist you in the implementation of awareness events at the local level, here are a few suggestions to get you started:
•Use public service announcements, press releases and other multi-media opportunities to promote “Family Day”;
•Use the sample proclamation on the web site to get your own city and county commission, even school board, to recognize the day;
•Encourage restaurants to offer discounts or coupons to redeem for families dining together that day; provide table tents;
•Ask businesses with marquees to post messages promoting “Family Day”;
•Provide churches with messages to use to encourage participation by families;
•Have displays at grocery stores encouraging families to cook a meal together; ask your local grocer to make flyers available at checkouts promoting “Family Day”;
•Work with your local extension agent to provide a cooking demonstration with ideas for “Family Day”;
•Send messages home to parents through schools and/or school newsletters; ask families to send in stories of what they did together and promote them; encourage families to sign the pledge to eat a meal together that day;
•Encourage businesses to allow employees’ families to come eat with them that day/evening;
•Ask your public library to promote games, recipes and other resources they have that families can use;
•Tell your daycare provider about the importance of Family Day and have them help promote it;
•Promote and publicize with any youth-serving organization – 4-H; Boys & Girls Club; Boy Scouts; Girl Scouts; etc.
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Family Day items are made available each year by Kansas Family Partnership and distributed to local Regional Prevention Centers (RPCs). Items may be ordered through Kansas Family Partnership and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Quantities are limited and you may want to contact your local RPC. To locate the RPC in your area, click this link. Other promotional items are available through the national CASA Family Day web site.
Items you can use for download below:
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2009 Sample Proclamation
(Available web only)
This proclamation can be used for schools, and city and county governments, etc.
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Kansas Family Day notices
(Available web only)
These can be downloaded and printed with local information printed on the front or opposite side. Use side two to print local info. |
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2009 Kansas Family Day table tent
(Available web only)
For use at restaurants, business break rooms, front desks, check-out counters, etc. |
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2007 Family Day celebrations:
North Topeka Dillons Store, Sept. 21, 2007 - more info
Texas Roadhouse, Topeka, Sept. 24, 2007 - see this video
Did you celebrate Family Day with your family this year? Did your business or church promote Family Day? Kansas Family Partnership is interested in learning how Family Day was celebrated in your community.
Please tell us how you celebrated Family Day by submitting your information to
Kansas Family Partnership!
We'd like to hear from you!
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2009 Proclamation Signing with Governor Parkinson - 9/10/09
Families Invited To Share A Meal Sept. 28 - 9/08/09
ValueOptions of Kansas Celebrates Family Day
Family Day Committee Members |
The 2009 Kansas Family Day Committee includes:
Keri Renner, Committee chair - Kansas Family Partnership, Inc. - Topeka
Tammy Adams - ValueOptions® of Kansas - Topeka
Dena Dean - Topeka/Shawnee County Regional Prevention Center - Topeka
Ardith Holmes - Emporians for Drug Awareness - Emporia
Lorrie Kessler - Regional Prevention Center of South Central Kansas - Newton
Carla Morrical-Frederking - K-State Research & Extension - Ellis County/Hays
Orvella Romine - Northwest Kansas Regional Prevention Center - Colby
Carla Smith - Reno County Communities That Care - Hutchinson
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Partnerships in promotion |
•Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services/Addiction
and Prevention Services
•Kansas
Regional Prevention Centers
•K-State Research and Extension - Kansas State University
•Reno County Communities That Care
•Emporians for Drug Awareness
•ValueOptions® of Kansas
•Kansas Family Partnership/Red Ribbon Campaign/Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free/Kansas SADD chapters
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