29TH ANNUAL HELPING KIDS THRIVE PARENT CONFERENCE

Helping Kids Thrive Parent Conference & Community Wellness Fair is a free event for the Golden community providing resources and hands-on practical information for parents, caregivers, and guardians to help children of all ages grow in positive ways. See classes and descriptions below.

The Toddler Years (ages 0-2): Building New Bonds (Session A only) - Children experience tremendous growth in the first two years. Parents play a critical role from nurturing an infant to helping a 2 -year-old deal with limits and temper tantrums. Learn more about the physical and emotional development patterns in this stage of your child's life.

The Early Years (ages 3-5): Creating a Blueprint for Success - What a child experiences and learns between the ages of 3 and 5 form the foundation for future growth. Understand the physical and emotional development patterns of the young child and the adult’s role in helping children grow up healthy.

The Elementary Years (ages 6-11): Foundation for Healthy Growth - During these years, children learn to solve problems for themselves and gradually develop their independence. Learn to balance your child’s need for structure and support while helping them build the skills necessary to problem solve and make good choices on their own.

The Teen Years (ages 12-19): Framing Boundaries and Expectations - Adolescent years can be a frustrating time for everyone. As an adult, you may want to help, but don’t know how. Find new ways to manage both respect for your teen's search for identity and the increased need for independence with appropriate rules and limit setting.

Parenting the Love and Logic Way - Love and Logic provides simple, practical techniques to help parents change a child’s behavior for the better. Parenting the Love and Logic Way provides loving support from parents while at the same time expecting kids to be respectful and responsible. Kids will become more self -confident, accountable, and better at making decisions.

Helping Your Child Tame Their Anxious Mind - Does your pre-teen/teen struggle with stress and anxiety? Come learn a few techniques to help your child tame their anxious mind. We will discuss and practice effective coping skills including mindfulness and relaxation and you’ll learn how to teach these skills to your child.

NEW! How Good Nutrition and Lifestyle Decisions Can Support Learning, Mood, and Decision-making (Session B only) - The way our children’s brains function and their ability to focus, remember and learn, can be significantly affected by what they eat. This class provides information, ideas, and tips for busy parents on how to increase children’s learning and engagement through nutrition. You will learn about our food system, how to make simple changes to support learning and mood, along with easy recipes to make at home.

NEW! How To Help Your Kids Feel Safe When Their World Feels Out of Control (Session B only) - After any type of mass tragedy, parents and caretakers often struggle with what to say and what to share with their children. How do we keep kids safe and secure in a world that doesn’t feel safe and secure? This class will cover how to help kids cope, what vicarious trauma is and how to spot it, how to communicate openly and appropriately, and available resources to address these situations with children of all ages.

NEW! Caring for LGBTQ Youth (Session A only) - Children who identify as LGBTQ or who are gender non-conforming need the same unconditional love and support from their parents and other caring adults as all children do. This class will help parents navigate what may be unfamiliar terrain and provide information and resources on how to support and advocate for our LGBTQ and gender non-conforming youth.