More than two dozen children and their parents bonded Sunday at a Center for Family Solutions root beer social while learning how to protect themselves.

The wellness program was important for Darren Stevens, a Liberty Twp. father of three and assistant principal at Madison High School.

“One of the big things, especially as an assistant principal, is how to interact with together kids,” he said.

The Center for Family Solutions, 400 N. Erie Highway, is a nonprofit organization whose aim is to protect children from sexual abuse and domestic violence. About 30 children and 18 parents from around Butler County attended Sunday’s wellness program sponsored by Jolly’s.

These programs allow families to interact with each other and other families, and “to build that bonding experience, to educate them on prevention sides for child abuse, to give them opportunities to work on self-esteem,” said Jennifer Achterman, Center for Family Solutions program and operations coordinator.

“It’s for anyone in the community that’s just looking for an activity to do in the community to build that bonding experience, to educate them on prevention sides for child abuse, to give (children) opportunities to work on self-esteem,” she said.

The root beer social was themed around March Madness, and the children were able to do activities arranged by Crishna Wilbrun, a Miami University senior studying social work and intern at the Center for Family Solutions.

“From this we hope these families will come to more of our programs,” said the Hamilton High School graduate.

Stevens said as his children — who are ages 4, 6 and 8 — get older, he wants them to be able to interact with other children in other communities, have fun, and “learn some lessons on how do deal with other people.”

About 20 children had to be put on a waiting list for this program, the fourth time this type of wellness program had been conducted, Achterman said. This was the second root beer social. The organization has also hosted two princess teas.

“We’re already thinking about when we can do the next one,” Achterman said.

The next wellness program will likely be a father-daughter themed program because Achterman said “there’s a need for that right now.”