By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

The Alabama Family Rights Association and the Shelby County Drug Free Coalition have partnered together to create a statewide event on Sept. 28 called Family Day.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University launched Family Day in 2001 as “a day to eat dinner with your children” and a way to inform parents that conversation during family dinners is beneficial to kids.

“Family engagement is important for kids because when you sit down and have a dialogue with kids you find out what’s going on with them, what’s wrong with them and you can identify issues and concerns early, such as potential drug use,” said Kenneth Paschal, director of governmental affairs with the Alabama Family Rights Association.

Gov. Robert Bentley signed a proclamation officially declaring Sept. 28 as Family Day on Aug. 26 in Montgomery, and many mayors in Shelby County have signed proclamations as well.

“I’m a firm believer that our cities and our communities are a reflection of our leaders,” Paschal said.

Paschal will be on APH Radio (99.9 FM) at 6:45 a.m. Sept. 28 to spread the word about Family Day and to encourage parents to have a conversation with their children. He has even created a sheet of conversation starters to help get the ball rolling.

The conversation starters list questions, such as “If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?” and “If you could only have three foods the rest of your life what would they be?”

Participating restaurants in the county— such as Texas Roadhouse and Taqueria Garibaldi in Pelham, Chubb’s Grub Station in Alabaster and Top it Off in Helena—will keep conversation starters on the table for families to utilize while they wait for their food.

“It’s just creating a dialogue because when you talk it’s amazing what you’ll learn from each other,” Paschal said.

Paschal said some schools in the county will ask be distributing the conversation starters to the students to bring home and share with their parents.

For more information, visit Alfra.org or Shelbycountydrugfreecoalition.org.