Brett Pritchard Family Blog

Previously, I posted on school security measures as response to the national school safety debate. However, I believe that schools must be protected from threats both inside and outside their walls. Within the mental health segment of the issue lies one key cause of suffering in schools: bullying. In 2016, National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) found that 33 percent of students who reported being bullied at school indicated that they were bullied at least once or twice a month during the school year. This figure shows that bullying is a chronic issue. In 1999, two ex-bully victims killed thirteen people in the Columbine Massacre. Georgia was the first state to enact anti-bullying laws only months later. For the next 10 years, we saw the culture shift. Movies and documentaries premiered detailing kids’ experiences with bullying, the media reported on extreme cases, and schools and governments began to make change. The federal government began collecting data on school bull...

(AP Photo/Kamenko Pajic)   Honoring Family with Family this July 4th Happy 4th of July from my family to yours! My Independence Day plans are traditional: tossing burgers and hotdogs on the grill, surrounded by laughing family and friends.  We will watch the fireworks together at night and get to bed after a great day. But for my plans to be truly patriotic, I need to do more than hang an American-flag-printed banner over the picnic table. I need to reflect, remember and honor those who have and are currently serving in our country’s armed forces. Our troops fiercely fight for our freedoms each day. Many of us can only imagine what it is like to be deployed, to go months or even years without seeing those we love most in this world.  For many, it is hard to grasp how these people feel. To better understand their experiences, I looked online for the stories of those serving this country. I came across “Stories of Service,” an enlightening series of short videos...

School Security Measures for Safe Learning Environments CNN reports that there were 23 school shootings in the first five months of 2018 .   In each of these incidents, at least one person was shot excluding the gunman.   Seeing this fact rattled me to my core.   I thought about my children, how they were once in schools similar to Parkland and Sandy Hook and Santa Fe.   I had to understand how schools were trying to combat this.   America’s mass shooting incidence rate has many layered causes, so I wanted to look specifically at the schools. We want our schools to have the security of our prisons without feeling or looking like prisons.   Learning environments must be just that—learning environments.   By focusing on CPTED—crime prevention through environmental design—school entrance design and visitor and staff management, schools can achieve that careful yet attainable balance.           ...

Why it’s Important for Children to Have a Father’s Influence In a recent pair of articles on LinkedIn and Patch.com, I looked at the importance of the relationship between father and child. I strongly believe that more needs to be done to encourage the bonds between both parents and their children after a divorce or separation. Children that grow up without a father have a more difficult time in life It is also hard on the mother that’s left to deal with the consequences. We have to do a better job of helping fathers to develop strong relationships with their children. Fairness in Custody Cases The courts tend to side with the mother in the majority of cases. Fathers are usually forced to live with just a couple of days of access to their children a week. That’s unfair to the father and the child. Most fathers want to do the right thing and they want to be a big part pf their child’s life. The courts need to encourage fairer custody agreements. Succeeding In School ...