Parenting and Family Resources

Parents, schools and the community together work to strengthen, educate and raise our children. The Hilton School District provides many opportunities to work with families, provide information, instruction and counseling.  For further information, contact your child's school counselor: Learning Support Services. PDF - Download Adobe Reader

H1N1 [Swine] Flu Information

Grief Resources for all ages

Time to Talk with Teens about Substances

The Recovery Project

Hilton Area Food/Shelter Resources

Mental Health Resources  

Mobile Crisis Intervention Team  585-275-5151 LifeLine

Resources for Eating Disorders

10 Things to Do to foster Emotional Resiliency and Intelligence

Focus on strengths. When your child brings home a test, talk first about what he or she did well. Then talk about what can be improved.

Praise specific strengths. Don’t just criticize things that were done wrong.

Follow up with consequences for misbehavior. Sometimes parents say things in anger that don’t curb the behavior in the long run. You might say, “Because of what you did, no television for a month.” Both you and your child know that after one or two days the TV will go back on. Decide on consequences that are fair, and then carry them out. Ask children how they feel. When you ask your child about his or her feelings, the message is that feelings matter and you care.

Find ways to stay calm when angry. It’s normal to get angry or irritated sometimes. Learn to recognize “trigger situations” and do something about them before you lose control. Try taking deep breaths for a few moments. Consider having a “quiet area” where people can go when they are upset. Or you can just stop talking and leave the room for a while. Sit down as a family and talk about what everyone can do to stay calm.

Avoid humiliating or mocking your child. This can make children feel bad about themselves. It can lead to a lack of self-confidence and, in turn, problems with schoolwork, illness, and trouble getting along with friends. Unfair criticism and sarcasm also hurts the bond of trust between children and parents.

Be mindful of how you speak to your children. Give them the room to make mistakes as they learn new skills. Be willing to apologize. Parents need to be able to apologize to their children if what they said was not what they meant. Calmly explain what you really wanted to say. By doing this you’re being a good role model. You’re showing how important it is to apologize after hurting someone. You’re teaching that it’s possible to work through problems with respect for the other person.

Give children choices and respect their wishes. When children have a chance to make choices, they learn how to solve problems. If you make all their choices for them, they’ll never learn this key skill. Giving children ways to express preferences and make decisions shows that their ideas and feelings matter.

Ask questions that help children solve problems on their own. When parents hear their child has a problem, it’s tempting to step in and take over. But this can harm a child’s ability to find solutions on his or her own. A helpful approach is to ask good questions. Examples include, “What do you think you can do in this situation?” and “If you choose a particular solution, what will be the consequences of that choice?”

Read books and stories together. Reading stories aloud is a way to share something enjoyable and learn together about other people. For example, stories can be a way to explore how people deal with common issues like making or losing friends or handling conflicts. Ask your child’s teacher or a librarian to recommend stories on themes that interest you and your children.

Encourage sharing and helping. There are many ways to do this. Together you and your child can prepare food in a homeless shelter or go on a fund-raising walk-a-thon. You can help out elderly neighbors or needy families. This teaches children that what they do can make a difference in the lives of others.

              From the Collaborative for Social and Emotional Learning

MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

Monroe County Mental Health Options/Resources

COMMON SENSE PARENTING COURSE

Common Sense Parenting Course   What your adolescent needs from us as parents is patience, understanding and sensitivity," Merton Williams Middle School School Counselor Maureen Rundle told parents at a parenting workshop, right.  "It helps to be a good listener." 

FOOD  NUTRITION  HEALTH

Child Health Plus for NYS children up to age 19

Community Health Resources

Farmers' Markets in Area

Foodlink Food Distribution

Food & Nutrition Service Links

Helping Youth Quit Smoking

Hilton Area Resources - food, shelter, furniture, medical supplies

Teen Drug Intervention

What to do if you think your child is on drugs

CHILDREN AT RISK

Adult Guide to Youth Services in Monroe County

Emergency Youth Services in Monroe County - Youth Yellow Pages

Growing Up Online  

Difference between Discipline and Punishment  

Inside the Teen Brain

Mental Health Resources Monroe County

Military families coping after War 

Monroe County Youth Bureau

NYS Div. of Criminal Justice Operation Safe Child

Raising Cain: Boys in Trouble - PBS Special  

Talking With Kids About Tough Issues 

Taking Action to Intervene in Teen Drug Use

What to do if your child is experimenting with drugs/alcohol

AREA PRESCHOOLS

Area Preschools ~ Monroe County

Timeless Parenting Advice ~ Raising Small Souls  

REACHING OUT TO OTHERS

Irish Children's Program

National Day of Silence  

TIES ~ Together Including Every Student seeks to link student volunteers to special needs children

The Advocacy Center [Special Education]