Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania

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South Hills Partnership With Parents
Dedicated to Strengthening Families, Schools and Communities
Parenting Tips for Summer Safety

1. Remember to keep your house safe — lock up weapons and medication (both prescription and over the counter drugs).
2. Understand. Try to sympathize with what your child is going through. Look at life from their point of view. Remember when you were their age; your ideas seemed to make sense to you.
3. Establish a code word or sentence that your child can use when they want you to say "NO" in front of friends. Example: "My throat hurts." When a parent hears these words, the child means he/she wants the parent to say "No" to the request he/she is making. "Mom, everyone is going to the concert. My throat hurts but I really want to go."
4. Hold family meetings to discuss curfews and responsibilities for the summer. Enlist the teen's ideas in establishing fair rules and regulations for the summer months. Agree upon consequences for violations of established rules. Keep the lines of communication open.
5. Have the kids plan a family day that includes meals, events, and activities from morning to night.
6. Get involved as a family in volunteer work or community service in nursing homes, hospitals, schools, daycare, library, house of worship, or helping the needy.
7. Kidpool - get together with the parents of your child's friends and agree to consolidate the kids 1-4 days per week.
8. Beware that kids often begin experimenting with alcohol and drugs in the summer when they have more freedom and less direct supervision.
9. Express affection. Remember the adage that everyone needs 12 hugs a day.
10. Encourage teens to earn money and put a percentage away to purchase something that they want to own.
11. Encourage participation in athletic activities or special summer programs: YMCA, community recreation, church, library.
12. Schedule parent days where the child spends the day with a parent, not focusing on the child but on what the parent needs to accomplish. This allows insight into adult responsibilities.
13. Have no TV, video and computer game days to read and play board games.
14. Get to know your children's friends and their parents. Communicate regularly with them. Host a neighborhood or backyard carnival.
15. Enjoy breakfast or dinner away from the kids with your spouse or a friend.
16. Get outside. Take a walk, ride bikes, fly kites and play games together as a family.

Have a safe and happy summer!