Full Notification

Orange County invites your school/organization to celebrate Family Day!


The more often kids eat dinner with their families,

the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.


Dear Prevention Partner:

Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM is a national movement to encourage parents and/or guardians to spend time with their children at the dinner table. It has been demonstrated that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink alcohol, or use drugs (ATOD). This year’s campaign will be celebrated this year on Monday, September 27, 2010.

More than a decade of research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has consistently found that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs.
Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM is a national movement launched by CASA in 2001 to remind parents that frequent family Dinners Make A Difference! While there are no silver bullets – substance abuse can strike any family regardless of ethnicity, affluence, age or gender – the parental engagement fostered at the dinner table can be a simple, effective tool to help prevent substance abuse in kids.
Family Day began as a grassroots initiative and has grown to become a nationwide celebration. In fact, in 2009 President Obama, all the Governors and more than 1,000 Mayors and County Executives proclaimed and supported Family Day!
“America’s drug problem is not going to be solved in courtrooms or legislative hearing rooms by judges and politicians. It will be solved in living rooms and dining rooms and across kitchen tables – by parents and families.”

Become a Family Day STAR!
I commit to:
S- Spend time with my kids by having dinner together
T- Talk to them about their friends, interests and the dangers of drugs and alcohol
A- Answer their questions and listen to what they say
R- Recognize that I have the power to help keep my kids substance free!
Looking for a way to engage in conversations with your kids? Use these conversation starters for a fun way to get everyone talking. Conversation starters include:
• Where would you go for a dream vacation?
• If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
• What is one thing you could absolutely not live without?
• If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
• If you could live in any time period, which one would it be?
• What is your favorite thing you learned today?
• If you had to eat just one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
• If you could have any animal as a pet, what would it be?
• What is one thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime?
• What book are you reading right now? What do you like about it? What do you dislike about it?
• If you could donate $1,000 to any charity, which charity would you select?
• If you could trade lives with anyone, who would it be?

Additional Resources: www.drugfree.org www.casafamilyday.org www.cachampionsforchange.net

If you have questions, please contact Pauline Stauder at 714-834-2094 or [email protected]

Warm regards,
Prevention Coalitions of Orange County