Parenting Points
On your mark. Get set. Blow bubbles! “Bubbles for Love” Day is part of the Alabama Family Rights Associations Parent Alienation Prevention and Awareness Week. On April 25, 2019, you can help spread awareness by blowing bubbles and “watching love grow.”
Kenneth Paschal, State President of the Alabama Family Rights Association, explains that parental alienation is “any behavior or attitude on the part of one parent, both parents or a third party that are designed to interfere, damage or destroy the relationship a child has with the other parent.” Paschal adds that children are designed by God to naturally love both parents. Hindering a child’s natural love of one parent can cause major problems since they are required to suppress their love. Since they are suppressing their love, children who experience parental alienation try to fill this void with other things. Paschal shares that some of the more severe effects of parental alienation include: Drug use, teen pregnancies, suicide and bullying.
The official Bubbles for Love day is April 25, 2019 at noon. The impact of this special day grows as more people participate. You can get involved by blowing bubbles for ten minutes in your workplace, school or home. The bubbles represent love from a child flowing freely to both parents no matter what their parents’ marital status is. If you cannot take time to blow bubbles on April 25, do not worry! You can blow bubbles any day during the week of April 21-27 to help raise awareness. Paschal explains that anyone, anywhere can participate by taking a picture of yourself or others blowing bubbles and posting it on social media with the hashtag, #bubblesforlove.
April is the National Child Abuse Prevention Awareness month. Paschal shares that parental alienation is considered by some psychologists as one of the worst forms of child abuse and more than 40,000 children experience it Alabama. Governor Ivey proclaimed April 21-27, 2019, as Parental Alienation Prevention and Awareness Week. There are many organized events taking place to help raise awareness. On April 1, the city of Pelham will go blue in honor of child abuse prevention. On April 20, the Birmingham Barons are partnering with Alabama Family Rights Association to host a “Bubbles for Love” event where volunteers and the Barons power team will give the first 3,000 participates soap bubbles to blow during the pre-game ceremony. To read about more events, visit www.alfra.org/bubbles-for-love-day or visit ‘Bubbles for Love Day – Alabama 2019’ on Facebook.
-Melissa Armstrong
