February 22, 2013
Our guest blogger today is Ana Lucia Lico, a member of SCAN’s Board whose story with SCAN actually begins in a parenting class more than five years ago, as a mother searching for support and resources to raise her young children. In addition to her role on the Board, Ana is a member of SCAN’s 25th Anniversary Planning Committee. This post is the first in a year-long series celebrating SCAN and its quarter century of work to prevent child abuse and support parents.
SCAN is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2013. While that’s certainly a celebratory reminder of a history full of accomplishments, it also presents us with an opportunity to reflect on how we’ve impacted the lives of children and families over a quarter century! There isn’t a sufficient way to quantify or measure all that SCAN has done, so we’d like to invite you to take a different look at this milestone for SCAN:
What would you wish for a 25-year old?
Since its launch, SCAN has worked to ensure children have the nurturing, safety and permanency they need to grow into healthy, happy adults. As we celebrate our own first 25 years, we’ve compiled a list of 25 wishes for every child in Northern Virginia to have by their own 25th birthdays. By 25, we hope every child will:
1. Know unconditional love from parents and caregivers
2. Recognize and honor the importance of family and friends
3. Have self-confidence and self-awareness
4. Feel a desire to live well and happily
5. Have solid self-esteem
6. Be courageous enough to learn from mistakes and limitations
7. Show respect
8. Experience self-sufficiency
9. Be empathetic
10. Show kindness and caring to all
11. Feel purposeful in pursuing life goals and dreams
12. Be responsible
13. Be ethical
14. Feel a connection to the community and the world around them
15. Hope for their future and their children’s future
16. Have a sense of safety
17. Care for their own emotional and physical well being
18. Feel secure
19. Be positive and optimistic
20. Make and maintain healthy relationships with healthy people
21. Be a risk-taker
22. Picture moving towards a career or a plan to use their talents
23. Understand the power to make choices and recognize that those choices have consequences, but can be changed and re-framed
24. Have faith in the community’s ability to meet their needs and not be afraid to ask for help
25. Wish to make a difference in the world
That’s SCAN’s vision. What’s YOUR vision for the future of the children around you? What will YOU do to help children today so they can achieve as much of that as possible by the time they turn 25?
I hope you’ll share your own wishes in the comments section below.
– Ana Lucia Lico, SCAN Board of Directors
