"When I first heard Mike speak about the Let’s Talk program, my first thought was "this is some pretty basic stuff, and I’m pretty sure I’m an awesome parent, so I already do a good job of talking to my kids about their strengths.” 

 

Well in my parental awesomeness, turns out I was not very self-aware. And not quite so awesome.

 

The first day of my attempt at putting the program into action, I made a point of putting a little homemade certificate on my youngest daughter’s bed that celebrated the fact that she did such a great job of making her bed each morning. She walked into her room after school and quickly walked back out, holding the certificate and looking at me strangely.

 

“Um, what is this,” she asked me with a face that indicated she knew I was up to something.

 

I explained that I was proud of how she did such a good job of keeping her room clean and making her bed without me even asking so I wanted to tell her good job.

 

“I don’t understand,” she said again. “Why are you being so nice? Why did you do this”

 

It was at that point I realized that maybe I had some work to do in pointing out strengths versus only faults all of the time. And with one preteen and two teenagers in the house, I’ve made it a point to do just that, as well as speak to them often about both drugs and suicide. I can’t say I’m positive all of the time, but I am trying to remember to build them all up now so they can be strong when it really counts."  - Andrea Ross