Parents + Teens = Families in Action

There’s no denying it—parents and teens are often at odds...but it doesn’t have to be that way. When parents and teens learn together, they have common ground for conversation—and when they can talk together, problems get solved.

That’s why the video-based Families in Action for Teens & Parents program is so exciting. In development for over five years, Families in Action provides a unique approach to improving parent-teen interaction and strengthening our youth against the risks they face every day.

Families in Action is Three Programs in One!

Your Families in Action program kit can be used in three ways:

• use both the Parent and Teen Components to offer a joint program for parents and teens together
• use the Teen Component alone for groups of preteens or teens (without parents present)
• use the Parent Component alone for groups of parents

All components contain video from the Active Parenting of Teens program, participant's guides, all-new Leader’s Guides, and other supplemental materials.

Families in Action is a video-based program with a dual purpose:

1. to teach parents the skills needed to guide their children through the challenging teen years
2. to help teens learn communication and negotiation techniques they can use at home, at school, and throughout their lives

Combining entertaining video, group discussion, and—for the teens—high-energy activities, the program will teach both groups how to:

• communicate effectively
• get along better
• avoid problems (including drugs, sex, violence and alcohol)

Researched and recommended! Long-term research on the Families in Action program (formerly called Families Meeting the Challenge) was published in the Journal of Drug Education and the Journal of Primary Prevention. Call 800-825-0060 for a copy or click on the titles above for summaries. Listed in the OJJDP's Model Programs Guide (MPG) Families in Action is listed in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Model Programs Guide (MPG). Click here for details.

Here’s what the teens will be learning:

• Session I:
  - Understanding parents
  - Teens today
  - Drugs, sexuality and violence: the problem
• Session II:
  - The Success/Failure Cycle
  - Character and the Success Cycle
  - Communication skills
  - The power of encouragement
• Session III:
  - 5 goals of behavior
  - Problems and problem ownership
  - Family guidelines
• Session IV:
  - Responsibility
  - Mutual respect
  - School success
  - Understanding & accepting consequences
  - Stages of drug use
• Session V:
  - Cooperation
  - Resisting negative peer pressure
  - Expressing love
• Session VI:
  - Setting goals
  - Family council meetings
  - Drugs, sexuality, violence and active problem-solving

While in the next room parents will learn:

• Session I:
  - Current teen issues
  - Styles of parenting
  - Drugs, sexuality and violence: the problem
• Session II:
  - Building courage and self-esteem
  - Drugs, sexuality and violence:
  the “think, feel, do” cycle
• Session III:
  - Problem-solving
  - Five goals of teen behavior
  - Problem-prevention talks
  - Drugs, sexuality and violence
• Session IV:
  - Helping teens develop responsibility
  - Respectful discipline skills
  - Mutual respect
  - Drugs, sexuality and violence:
  stages of drug use
• Session V:
  - Effective communication skills
  - Avoiding communication blocks
  - Drugs, sexuality, violence and communication
• Session VI:
  - Family talks
  - Family council meetings
  - Drugs, sexuality, violence and active
  problem-solving

Families in Action...in action
Click below to read about Families in Action successes all over the country:

The story behind the 5-year development of Families in Action by Michigan educator Peggy Hendrickson

Iowa parents and teens come together

Louisiana Teen Court program finds success with Families in Action

"The program has something for everyone."

- Karen Tenneson, Prevention Specialist in Iowa