Students encouraged to go offline

Amanda Jeffery,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The simple act of putting down phones on Family Day is one way families can stay connected.

Sue Reich, the programs manager for Aim for Success, says every year they work with Family and Community Support Services to make a fun competition for students to show they have spent the most time with their families unplugged.

“Positive relationships and connections are good for our mental health and we want to promote that,” says Reich.

While spending time with family is something that is encouraged year round, on Family Day students have the opportunity to flex their connection skills. Reich says starting next week, students will get a sheet in the mail where students and their families can record how much time they spent off of their devices and with each other on February 17.

After Family Day, students bring back their forms to the school where the results are tallied.

Reich says any hour that is not spent with screens, including time in bed, counts toward the end result. She says the easiest way to calculate the family’s total hours is to look at the number of hours doing a family activity. The student can multiply the number of hours they were disconnected for that activity by the number of people in their family.

“If they spent four hours playing games and they have five family members, they have 20 hours disconnected, plus whatever time they spend sleeping,” says Reich. “In reality, all of the kids should have hours they can record.”

The class with the highest number of disconnected hours is treated to a pizza party courtesy of FCSS. The school with the highest number of disconnected hours is given $250 from Aim for Success to go toward something that can help or support mental health.

“The competition part is the fun part, but the real reason we’re doing it is to help promote [people] connecting without any phones or anything,” she says.

Reich says students and families really take the competition seriously. She says she’s often surprised at the number of hours that can be accumulated over one day.

There is also a wide variety of activities that families partake in, she says. Over the years she’s seen things like bird watching, baking, ice fishing, games night, and other outdoor pursuits.

One area of connection that students often don’t realize they are building is that with the other students. Reich says the classes come together as teams to work toward their common goal of a pizza party.

“It’s neat seeing all of the schools competing, but in a friendly way,” she says.

Anyone looking for events or activities that families can participate in check out the Brazeau and Beyond Tourism Guide for ideas.

Amanda Jeffery,
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Drayton Valley and District Free Press