Use the Family section to help young children learn the difference between healthy and unhealthy activities and practice making decisions, solving problems, and following rules.  The topic areas below are designed to help parents and caregivers teach preschoolers how to make positive and healthy choices and use the six action steps (protective factors) that Building Blocks is based on, to protect young children from developing risky behaviors. 

1. Good Talking, Good Listening offers parenting tips on using active listening and communication skills to establish and maintain good parent-child communication.
2. Time With Your Kids emphasizes the importance of parent involvement and helps you make spending time with your children a priority.
3. Living With Rules suggests ways to use positive reinforcement for child discipline and for enforcing family rules.
4. Walk the Walk encourages positive role modeling to promote positive child behavior.
5. Kids With Kids offers parenting advice on teaching social skills and helping children learn how to make friends.
6. Show and Tell recommends easy ways to monitor your children's activities, feelings, and health.
7. Activities is a great place to find ideas for family activities and conversation starters.

What children learn early in their lives often forms lifelong habits and attitudes. By the time most children enter preschool, they have seen adults drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes in real life, in the media, or both. Today, even elementary school children may hear about or see illegal drug use.

Building Blocks is here to help you lay the groundwork now to talk about underage drinking, tobacco, drugs, and other sensitive issues so that your children are more likely to come to you for help and advice when they are older.

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