Sample Letter to Send
to Caregivers
This letter is based on a letter that Elaine Davis, 4-H Youth Development Program
Assistant, sent home to caregivers for the Building Strong Families for Youth pilots.
Date
Dear Caregiver:
Hello. Over the next few weeks I will be working with your child as I present the
Building Strong Families for Youth program at [Insert school, location, organization,
etc.]. This program was developed by University of Missouri Extension.
This program for youth covers the following topics:
 Family Strengths—to understand what makes families strong and how family
members can support each other.
 Communicating—to understand that communication has many parts, including
getting a message to someone and listening.
 Self esteem—to learn what a person can do and encourage youth to use their
strengths to help others.
 Balancing Responsibilities—to learn ways to help with responsibilities and to
create balance in families.
 Managing Stress—to understand what makes someone stressed and practice
ways to lower that stress.
 Food and Fitness—to learn about foods that are healthy and learn ways to be
more active every day.
 Healthy Home—to learn about unhealthy indoor air, practice habits to keep my
room or space healthier, and learn how to help my family.
 Money Matters—to learn about money and feelings and wants and needs; to
learn about a spending plan and saving and sharing money.
 Kindness—to learn about and practice being kind to others, practice manners and
create thank you notes.
You are the most important teacher your child will ever have. This program will give
children the chance for team building experiences and character development through
hands-on learning activities. From time to time they will bring home activities to share
with you and other family members. Please take time to share, participate and learn with
this program. The encouragement you provide during the next few weeks will make all
the difference in the success of your young individual as he or she learns in these life skill
development activities.
I look forward to working with your child over the next few weeks. If you have any
questions, you may call me at any time at [insert your agency’s name] at [insert your
phone number] or visit me [insert address]. I welcome you to share any comments or
concerns you may have at any time as we explore this Building Strong Families program
together.
Sincerely,
More details if you want to add them to the letter.
We’ll talk about these topics, and we might do activities like the ones listed below.
Family Strengths
I’m learning:
 To understand what families do
 To learn about different types of families
 To learn what makes a family strong
I might:
 Use Lego blocks
 Listen to a book about families
 Make a family out of rocks
 Decorate a family sign
Communicating
I’m learning:
 To understand feelings and appropriate ways to communicate
 To understand nonverbal communication
 To use positive words, messages and actions to show respect and caring
I might:
 Use hula hoops, play dough and pipe cleaners
 Talk about feelings, responsibility, and telling the truth
 Listen to a book about how to deal with anger
 Play the telephone game
 Do a skit
Self-Esteem
I’m learning:
 To understand and know what I am good at and what I can do
 To build a healthy view of myself
 To realize that thoughts and actions can make a difference in self-esteem
I might:
 Play a game to learn what I am good at
 Listen to a book about liking myself
 Make a picture frame magnet and paper chain
 Use a paper doll to talk about self-esteem and helping others
Balancing Responsibilities
I’m learning:
 To appreciate and learn about family responsibilities
 To practice skills and household jobs
 To think about ways that boys and girls (and men and women) do different
jobs and responsibilities
 To talk about ways to have balance in families
I might:
 Play a game to talk about handling different responsibilities
 Listen to a book about a boy cleaning his room
 Decorate a helper hat
 Put pictures of jobs on a felt board and talk about them
 Practice different jobs to do at home
Managing Stress
I’m learning:
 To understand feelings that go with worry and stress
 To practice activities that help reduce stress
 To practice relaxing as a way to reduce stress
I might:
 Use a “stress dot” that changes colors as stress levels go up and down
 Listen to a book that talks about how to get rid of stress and worries
 Move around in fun ways to get rid of worries
 Listen to relaxing music
Food and Fitness
I’m learning:
 How to be more active every day
 The best way to wash my hands
 About and trying fresh vegetables and fruits
 About and trying whole grain foods
 About drinking more milk (or appropriate milk products for lactose
intolerant youth) and not drinking as many sweetened drinks
I might:
 Take a walk in the building or a safe area outside
 Listen to a book called Green Eggs and Ham and do motions that go along
with the words
 Practice washing my hands
 Talk about and taste different vegetables and fruits



Talk about and taste different whole grain foods
Try different physical activities to get up and moving (kicking a beach
ball, doing back stretches, etc.)
Learn about milk and other foods that are high in calcium and why they
are good for my body
Healthy Home
I’m learning:
 What causes unhealthy indoor air and how it affects me
 About practicing habits that keep my room or space healthy
 How to help my family make my home more healthy
I might:
 Identify indoor air pollutants that could irritate my breathing (even if I
don’t have allergies or asthma, things like dust, pollen or dander can
bother others).
 Look at pictures of dust mites
 Talk about Carbon Monoxide
 Read or listen to a book called Pigsty by Mark Teague
 Become a room inspector to identify unhealthy habits in the home and
then practice habits to keep our home clean and healthy (such as, sweep
the floor, pick up wet towels, throw away crumbs and trash and change
pillow cases).
 Decorate a trash can for my room or space
Money Matters
I’m learning to:
 Explore the concept of money and feelings.
 Learn the difference between wants and needs, and how they relate to
spending.
 Develop a plan for spending money.
 Learn about saving and sharing money.
I might:
 Make play dough into the shape of something that reminds me of money
and talk about how money effects my feelings
 Play a bingo game and talk about where money comes from (for example,
we can earn money by doing a job, sell things, recycle items for money,
get money as a gift.).
 Use different pictures to learn about wants and needs.
 Read or listen to a book called Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last
Sunday



Use a menu and play money to order a pretend meal and plan how to
spend an allotted amount of money.
Play a game with beach balls to learn about saving money and interest.
Talk about sharing
Kindness is Cool
I’m learning:
 The importance of doing kind acts
 How to communicate in kind ways
 How to express appreciation for kind acts
 That sportsmanship involves kindness
I might:
 Practice having kind conversations with others
 Practice washing hands and table manors
 Read or listen to a book called Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler
 Create thank you notes
 Practice kindness and manors while participating in activities
 Create kindness coupons for members of my family
If you have any questions about the topics or about the activities, please call, write, or
stop by [Insert your contact information.] Thank you.
Sincerely,