Happy family reading books at home
CACHE COUNTY – Here in Cache County, it’s Family Month.
So says County Executive David Zook, who announced the observance at the meeting of the Cache County Council on May 11.
According to Zook, Family Month will run from May 9 to June 20, which isn’t exactly a month. But those dates are meaningful, he says, because the local observance will stretch from Mother’s Day this month until Father’s Day in June.
“That makes Family Month a 40-day observance between those two holidays,” Zook said, adding that the local observance will occur simultaneously with the annual “Be Kind Utah” Campaign by the Family Place.
“That campaign’s motto is ‘One Million Ways in Forty Days’,” the county executive added. “Their push during that period is for a million acts of kindness as part of family life.”
Family members can pledge to make acts of kindness on The Family Place website at https://thefamilyplaceutah.org.
A proclamation signed by Zook announcing Family Month in Cache County stresses that strong, healthy and happy families are the foundation of society.
But local families and their children are not always happy. A recent “Stepping Up” event on the steps of the Cache County Historic Courthouse highlighted the 366 substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect in Cache County in 2020.
That event, sponsored by the Family Place, illustrated that tragic statistic by placing hundreds of pairs of empty children’s shoes on the courthouse steps.
“We can reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect by increasing protective factors,” Zook argued in his Family Month proclamation. “Those include providing parents with support in times of need; enhancing parental resilience; providing options for social connections; facilitating community knowledge of parenting skills; and, supporting the development and wellbeing of children.”
The county proclamation also praised the Utah Association of Family Support Centers for providing “… a critical resource for families during times of high stress, emergency or crisis” by offering support, respite services and family education.