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Resources for Families

Bringing Developmental Relationships Home: Tips and Relationship Builders for Families

This 16-page booklet includes tips and relationship-building activities that parents can use with their children, particularly between ages 3 and 12. They focus on building each of the five elements of developmental relationships and are based on Search Institute’s study, Don’t Forget the Families (2015).

Table Time Meal Planning for Families

Family dinners are important. Kids in families who eat together regularly tend to get better grades and are less likely to use alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. This Family Dinner Toolkit can help you make the time parents and kids spend together count!

Talk About It

Here are some family conversation starters that help you talk with your children and teens and strengthen your relationship. Talk About It Cards help you share each person’s experiences, feelings, and beliefs so families can get to know each other better!

Resources for Leaders

Relationships that Matter: 5 Keys to Helping Your Child Succeed (in English and Spanish)

With this single session, 80-minute workshop, you can help parents understand and focus on five areas of parent-child relationships that are key to youth’s success in school and other areas of life.

Money and Kids

Search Institute has created several workshops to help families become comfortable and confident in dealing with money as part of life. These workshop guides help parenting adults, children, and teens examine a variety of money topics to teach young people money management. These free workshops are for leaders who work with parents of teens, parents of grade-school children, directly with teenagers or directly with children in grades 3-12.

7 Shifts for Engaging Families

Search Institute has identified  key shifts that can energize how schools and organizations partner with families. Use this self-reflection to examine your school or organization’s default mindsets and practices, identifying opportunities to explore and strengthen.

Research on Family Relationships and Strengths

Access Search Institute’s research on families to use in making the case for your programs and highlighting the power of strength-based approaches to family engagement.