red ribbon week

Dear KES Families,

The Katonah Lewisboro School District will be promoting its annual Red Ribbon Week celebration, a district-wide alcohol and drug prevention event. This year, all K-12 students will once again be participating in age-appropriate prevention activities during the week of October 24th-28th.

Red Ribbon Week has grown into the most far-reaching and well-known drug prevention event in America.It began to honor a drug enforcement agent who was killed in 1985 while working undercover in Mexico. In response to his murder, friends and family wore red ribbons in memory of his crusade against illegal drug use in this country. Today, schools across the nation continue the tradition of wearing red ribbons to promote choosing a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. At the elementary level, the focus is on making healthy choices in general (i.e., food, exercise).

In order to raise awareness throughout the KES community, we will be sharing ideas about healthy choices daily on “Good Morning, KES.” The district encourages you to take this opportunity to discuss the concepts of Red Ribbon Week with your family. Following this letter (below) we have provided some tips to help you get started.

This year, we are attaching a PAW print to this email. Please print it out for your KES student(s) to decorate with their idea for a healthy choice. Students may return the PAW to a box located outside the library. PAWS will be displayed on our “PAW-some Healthy Choice” bulletin board. This year the theme is “CELEBRATE LIFE” so feel free to incorporate that message into your PAWs. For example, how do healthy choices help you celebrate life?

For more information, visit www.redribbon.org

Sincerely,
Jessica Fulton, KES Social Worker
Cristy Harris, Principal
Kweon Stambaugh, Assistant Principal

Drug prevention can start at any age. Talking with young children will look different than talking with a teenager. The earlier we begin a dialogue with our children about alcohol and other drugs the more comfortable they will be asking questions in the future. Family discussions are the best way to pass on our values and expectations.

ELEMENTARY:

*Present conversations under the topic of healthy choices. These choices may have to do with food, activities and mindfulness at a young age, but then become more about drinking, smoking/vaping and drugs.

*Regarding “prescription drugs,” If your children ask about this, you may need to explain that medicines prescribed by a doctor and administered by a responsible adult may help keep us healthy and are different from “drugs” that are misused and can become dangerous. Medicines taken the way the doctor suggests are OK.

*Explain how some drugs, if taken without help from the doctor, can interfere with the way our bodies work and can make a person very sick or even cause them to die.

They may ask:

Why would people want to put bad things in their bodies?
*One answer might be that they might not realize how dangerous drugs can be.

Sometimes people start using a drug just to see what it feels like, but it can turn into an addiction (like cigarettes) and it's very hard to stop using it. Another answer may be that they are not taking care of themselves.

*Another conversation can be about sugar. Most people love the taste of sugar, but we are learning more about how too much sugar is bad for our bodies. Even knowing this it is very hard to limit how much we eat. Once we put it in our bodies, it makes us want more more more!

Why can't I taste that "grown up" drink?
*A small amount of alcohol has a much greater negative effect on a child's body than on an adult's; even a small amount can sicken a child.

*Praise your children for taking good care of their bodies, making good choices and avoiding things that might harm them. Work with them to schedule fun, healthy activities on a regular basis. Modeling healthy behavior is always more powerful than lecturing.