By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA – Students at Helena Intermediate School had even more of a reason to be excited on Halloween this year as Oct. 31 also served as parenting day where parents were invited to spend the day with their child and participate in a variety of activities.

October was designated as Alabama’s statewide parent visitation month and Helena Intermediate participated by hosting parenting day.

Parenting day featured two workshops parents could attend including Shelby Cares and the report card at a glance. Shelby Cares discussed the importance of parent and child emotional wellness while the report card at a glance explained students new elementary report card.

At the Shelby Cares workshop, Helena Intermediate School Counselor Renita Matthews went over a variety of topics related to the importance of emotional wellness, connectedness, communication and more during the 45-minute session.

“What can you do as parents do, and that starts by taking care of your own emotional wellness,” Matthews said. “I gave you a checklist where you can check how you’re taking care of yourself to make sure you’re doing what you need to do to take of yourself. Make sure you’re eating well, getting plenty of rest and acknowledge when you are tired or run down. If these things are modeled in front of your children then they start to gain an understanding as well that I need to make sure I’m eating right, getting enough rest and so on.”

In addition to the workshops, parents were able to attend a leader in me session where they visited their child’s classroom to learn how they were growing as a leader.

Other highlights of parenting day included an enchanted forest book fair, a LifeSouth blood drive and parents had the opportunity to eat lunch with their child.

For more information on Helena Intermediate and to follow the latest news and events, visit Facebook.com/Helena-Intermediate-School-501407216625324/.