© Wyoming Families First

Wyoming Families First

Boys and Girls Schools WFF in partnership with the WDFS strives to provide meaningful relationship skills training to students attending or living at the Wyoming Girls and the Wyoming Boys Schools. Project Goals include: • Improve students’ relationship knowledge: providing students skills and techniques to consider delaying sexual activity; and as a result • Reduce the incidence of unwanted pregnancies; and • Encourage the formation of two-parent families WFF uses a variety of evidence based curricula with these students.  The program has been well received and is providing excellent results.  As of 3/31/11 more than 500 students have participated in 1 or more training event, we have reported that: • 90.4% could name the 4 necessary ingredients for change; • 97.2% understood the importance of compatibility in a relationship; • 100% (Girls School Only) could name at least 3 consequences of becoming pregnant before ready; • 100% (Girls School Only) understood that refusal skills can be both verbal and non-verbal; • 100% (Girls School Only) expresses understanding that “unprotected sex” is likely to result in becoming pregnant; and • 79.7 % (low) to 100% (high) of Students expressed Satisfaction (with class experience, instructor, and materials and resources). Check back with us as we post more project information and updates!  

WFF participates in many special projects aimed at improving and strengthening individual and family relationships.  Click on the links below to find out more about our special projects.

Family Night For nine years, Wyoming’s First Lady teamed up with partners from around the state to present Wyoming First Lady’s Family Night designed to help families make the most of their time together. Whether you’re cooking a gourmet meal or ordering food from your favorite take-out place, rest assured that what your kids really want at the dinner table is YOU!   Family meals are the perfect time to talk to your kids and to listen to what is on their minds.  More than a decade’s worth of research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has consistently found that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs. How does Wyoming Participate? Here in Wyoming, we are in our ninth year of statewide Family Night participation!  Wyoming’s First Lady Carol Mead is teaming up with WHMI Strong Families Strong Wyoming and other partners from around the state to get families together!  This year’s “Recipes for a Successful Family” is a 16 page booklet that includes four different family fun ideas for celebrating Family Night 2013.  The booklet also includes a message from Wyoming’s First Lady encouraging families to stay connected; tips for good communication; parent letter with tips on how to use the booklet and good conversation strategies; characteristics of strong families; and much more. CASA’s 2012 report The Importance of Family Dinners VI (click here for Casa 2012 Report)  found that compared  to teens who have frequent family dinners (five to seven per week), those who have infrequent family dinners (fewer than three per week) are: • Twice as likely to use tobacco; • Nearly twice as likely to use alcohol; and • One and a half times likelier to use marijuana. There is also a connection between the frequency of family dinners and a teen’s access to drugs. Compared to teens who have frequent family dinners, those who have infrequent family dinners are twice as likely to say they can get marijuana or prescription drugs (to get high) in an hour or less. 7 Secrets to Successful Family Dinners 1. Start the pattern of family dinners when children are young 2. Encourage your children to create menu ideas and participate in meal preparation 3. Turn off the TV and let your answering machine answer calls during dinnertime 4. Talk about what happened in everyone's day: school, work, extracurricular activities or current events 5. Establish a routine to start and end each meal. 6. Light candles or tell a story After dinner play a board game or serve dessert to encourage the family to continue the conversation 7. Keep conversation positive and make sure everyone gets a chance to speak