The Families Connected Virtual Parent Chat Relaunch
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The Families Connected Parent Chat will relaunch September 12th as a monthly support group provided the second Tuesday of each month.
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The Families Connected Virtual Parent Chat
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The Families Connected Parent Chat has moved to Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. and will begin its 5th school year on September 21. We hope you will join us!
Read MoreThe Families Connected Parent Chat: Insight from Our Moderator and Testimonials
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The Parent Chat is going strong with an average of 10 - 16 parents and caregivers joining us each week. Topics range from sharing concerns and strategies around helping our kids manage screen time, to supporting kids struggling with anxiety, or depression, or substance use… It’s a long list. No matter what the topic, we strive to ensure that everyone is heard and supported. And that they are not alone.
Read MoreThe Families Connected Virtual Parent Chat: Every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.
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Now in its fifth year, the Parent Chat is going strong with an average of 10 - 16 parents and caregivers joining us each week. Topics range from sharing concerns and strategies around helping our kids manage screen time, to supporting kids struggling with anxiety, or depression, or substance use… It’s a long list. No matter what the topic, we strive to ensure that everyone is heard and supported. And that they are not alone.
Read MoreThe Families Connected Parent Chat: In Its Fourth Year and Going Strong
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Now two years in, the Parent Chat is going strong with an average of 10 - 16 parents and caregivers joining us each week. Topics range from sharing concerns and strategies around helping our kids manage screen time, to supporting kids struggling with anxiety, or depression, or substance use… It’s a long list. No matter what the topic, we strive to ensure that everyone is heard and supported. And that they are not alone.
Read MoreThe Families Connected Parent Chat: Supporting Us so We Can Help Our Youth Thrive
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Now two years in, the Parent Chat is going strong with an average of 10 - 16 parents and caregivers joining us each week. Topics range from sharing concerns and strategies around helping our kids manage screen time, to supporting kids struggling with anxiety, or depression, or substance use… It’s a long list. No matter what the topic, we strive to ensure that everyone is heard and supported. And that they are not alone.
Read MoreHelping Youth Develop Healthy Coping Skills: Families Connected Mindfulness Workshop Series, by Kim Digilio
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The workshop instructor, Kimberly Digilio can relate to the pressure that today's youth experience. She shares that, “Growing up, I was never very kind to myself. I worked incredibly hard and achieved many successes but never took the time to celebrate them." For Kim, meditation was the key. "Meditation changed the way I saw myself in the world around me, and it taught me to accept the highs and lows in my life with more compassion and less judgment.” Our hope is that all youth can find that self-compassion and perspective.
Read MoreMark Wiedenmann announces Chadwick Families Connected
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I am thoroughly thrilled to announce that Chadwick School, along with 45 other South Bay Schools, is now a partner school with South Bay Families Connected (SBFC). There is a certain strength and efficiency that comes from unity.
Read MoreConfessions of a Reformed Helicopter Mom
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Greetings to all you SBFC parents out there! I have a difficult confession to make: I once was a helicopter parent. In my defense, ten years ago when my husband’s and my two oldest kids were teens, books with titles like, How to Raise an Adult, Grit, and The Gift of a Skinned Knee, did not dominate the parenting sections of bookstores across the country, or make the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list...
Read MoreOMG, WE JUST SENT OUR BABY BOY TO THE WILDERNESS!!!
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This is our story of sending our oldest son off to a wilderness program because we felt his addictive behavior would eventually threaten his life and at minimum, derail whatever future he could have planned. As he recently told us, he thinks we saved his life.
Read MoreThe Strand Family Shares Their Story, Part 3
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Cyndi Strand of Manhattan Beach shares with SBFC the tragic story of her son Justin's ongoing struggle with addiction, and ultimately, his death in January of this year. "So now I find myself at my final chapter of my blog about our family and the demons of drugs. The havoc that is brought into the family: the fear, the sadness, the anger, and the bewilderment is paralyzing. I will briefly continue the story of our descent into the abyss of drug addiction and then offer you my thoughts looking back."
Read MoreBiggest Takeaways from 5Ws Event
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To those who attended the 5Ws of Teen Drug & Alcohol Use event at MBMS, thank you for coming and sharing your thoughts with Families Connected by completing the survey. Click here to read more and learn about the three biggest takeaways that parents shared with us in the survey.
Read MoreThoughts on the Brock Turner Case, by Franca Stadvek
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So much swirling in my head over the Stanford swimmer rape case. So many social and moral issues all wrapped into one tragic story. I find myself embarrassed and guilty because when I read about the case months ago and saw the headline, "Stanford, Olympic hopeful, rape" I thought to myself, how very sad...that poor boy's life is ruined, a stupid mistake. I didn't really give much thought or pay attention to the rest of the story. How very wrong.
Read MoreThe Strand Family Shares Their Story, part 1 of 3
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Cyndi Stand of Manhattan Beach shares with SBFC the tragic story of her son Justin's ongoing struggle with addiction, and ultimately, his death in January of this year. Cyndi is writing this three part series, "Not to scare you but to make you wiser and more alert. I want no one to suffer the loss we have had to endure."
Read MoreParenting Tips from Jonathan Scott, by Sandi Gleason
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I recently attended a MCHS Families Connected event, a presentation by Jonathan Scott of Miles to Go Drug Education. He firmly believes that the majority of teens want to please their parents and that by following a few key steps, parents can dramatically reduce the likelihood that their teens will be harmed by drug and alcohol use. So what are those steps?
Read MoreOur Binge Drinker
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"I grew up in the South Bay. My husband and I have been married almost three decades. We have two kids in college, wonderful friends, and a beautiful home in Manhattan Beach. We’re 'living the dream.' In my experience the drinking began for our son sophomore year in high school....
Read MoreJoan Jenkins and the MB Juvenile Diversion Program - Looking Out for Our Kids
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I recently found out that kids who get arrested in Manhattan Beach for a misdemeanor, like having a party where minors are served or using a fake ID, are given the chance to be diverted from the juvenile court system to the office of Manhattan Beach City Prosecutor, Joan Stein Jenkins...
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