What Makes Teens Tick

“Excessive drinking and substance use can temporarily impair mental abilities, but these effects may be longer lasting in adolescents. Teens who use alcohol or drugs heavily show delayed or incomplete development of frontal-brain regions responsible for regulating attention and decision-making; alcohol seems to be particularly detrimental to planning skills while pot affects memory.” TIME, November 1, 2010, p 20.

This statement is based on research due to be released in January, 2011 in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 35, No 1, 2011: pp 1-8.

For a more in depth review of what modern technology has taught us about the developing brain and how that research impacts our current policies and practices, see, "What Makes Teens Tick," TIME, September 28, 2008.

In a nutshell: Adolescence is a time of rapid maturation for the human brain. This process is influenced in large part by exposure and experience. For parents, this can mean the last bite at the apple to shape your child’s brain development. This is profoundly challenging when a teens’ natural reaction is to push back. One highly recommended course of action is seek out the other adults in your child’s life, form an alliance, and be armed with the facts. One fact is clear, alcohol can have an adverse affect on the developing teen brain.

Learn more, visit: 21 Reasons at: http://www.21reasons.org/; or Partnership for a Drug Free America at: http://www.drugfree.org/

Family Dinners Can Make a Difference

As the new school year begins, it is important to keep in mind how meaningful and effective talking to your kids really is. Even as schedules become more hectic and conflicting, we want you to remember that even the small stuff can make a difference.

A recent study done by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University has found that having regular dinners as a family will in fact put your child at less risk of using alcohol or drugs even as they are confronted with the pressure to do so in and outside of school.

If you haven’t been having family dinners lately, September 27, 2010 would be a great day to start. It’s the annual Family Day created by CASA, and it will be held across the nation. We urge you to participate! Family Day was created in 1992 by Joseph A. Califano Jr. in an effort to prevent the abuse of illegal drinking and drug abuse. Since its instillation CASA has done research that proves having a meal with your kids, listening and being interested in their lives, and informing them about the dangers of alcohol and drugs can have an impact.

Whether it’s a family dinner, a family breakfast, or even a game night, doing family activities is a simple prevention method.

And if you get a chance during dinner, you can talk to your kids about your expectation that they stay drug and alcohol-free.

Also check out The Partnership for a Drug-Free America for a guide to the Teen Brain and tips for parenting a teenager.

Prom and Graduation Season Tips for Parents

Time to Talk has some great tips for parents during prom season:

Time for Prom and Graduation? Time To Talk with Your Teens

Prom season is fast approaching, and for many teens, this time of year offers a taste of new freedoms and the temptation to engage in risky behavior. A new study of 11th and 12th grade students from across the country shows that teens don't recognize the dangers of driving on prom and graduation night, even though they recognize their peers may be more likely to drink on these occasions. Nearly all of the students surveyed, 90 percent, reported that their peers are more likely to drink on prom night and 79 percent reported the same for graduation night. Despite believing that their peers are more likely to drink during prom and graduation, only 29 percent reported that they believe driving on prom night is dangerous, while 25 percent said the same for graduation night.

The study surveyed over 2,500 students and was conducted by ORC Guideline for Liberty Mutual and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD).

What You Can Do to Help Keep Prom Goers and New Graduates Safe?

To keep celebrations safe and healthy, here are some helpful tips and advice for parents and caregivers:

Know Your Teens' Plans and tell them to update you if the itinerary changes so you're aware of their whereabouts.

Check In With Them Via Text - they are more likely to reply, since it's discreet. You can send messages like "Hope ur having a gr8 time!" or "U OK?" before and after the dance.

Trust Your Teens and resist the urge to hover. You've filled them in on the rules and the risks - chances are they got the message.

For more ideas visit the Time to Talk website, or 21 Reasons' parent page.

Teens Take Risks: Ideas for Keeping Kids Safe

NPR had an excellent story this week on the teenage tendency to take risks. As they point out, teens “engage in risk-taking behaviors to find out who they are, not to rebel or get back at the parent.”

Given this reality, a parent’s job is to help teens take “safe” risks so that they’re not tempted to engage in unhealthy behavior that can have lifelong consequences—like drinking, drugs, or unsafe sexual activity. From the piece:

What are some examples of healthy risk-taking activities?
Sports and developing artistic and creative abilities -- be it through art or theater -- are all activities that involve healthy levels of risk-taking. Teens can engage in volunteer activities, and even Internet activities. It can be as simple -- and as scary -- as getting up on stage, or asking somebody out, says Steinberg. All these behaviors may satisfy a teen's need to push boundaries, but are usually in an environment where there's very little harm that could result.

The article also recognizes that parents—often unintentionally—role model behavior for their kids.

Adults have patterns of risk-taking, too -- think about what they are, and model good behavior. …Steinberg agrees. "Teens who drink a lot often come from households where their parents drink a lot. Teens model their parents. Even though parents think their teens ignore them, they watch them."

What are some other kinds of healthy risk-taking behaviors that we can encourage in teens? What are some ways that you have changed your behavior to model healthy actions for a young person in your life? Share your ideas in the comments section.

Teen Drinking and Brain Damage

If you knew that you could prevent brain damage and school problems for your kid, would you act? A new study out says that there might be something pretty simple you can do: don’t let your underage kids drink.

There’s a common myth among parents that letting your kids drink under your supervision is better than not knowing where they are, if they’ll be driving, and so on. But a new study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found a difference between the brains of teens who drank and those who didn’t.

The study started when none of the teen subjects had ever had alcohol. Over the next few years, however, some of the teens began to drink. Those that did drink were often bingeing (4-5 drinks a night) two or three nights a month.

The binge drinkers did worse on memory tests; binge-drinking boys also did worse on tests of attention, while the binge-drinking girls were worse when their spatial reasoning was tested.

What’s especially surprising is that the damage shows up so quickly. Just two of those “supervised” parties a month – approximately the same rate that the teens in the study were drinking – could potentially lead to brain damage. The study says that the performance of the non-drinkers to the binge drinkers can be compared to a whole grade point: like “the difference between

an A and a B”.

While the study does note that more research needs to be done to find out if the damage is reversible, it’s hard to imagine that it’s a risk a parent would be willing to take. And why make the complicated and difficult teen years harder?

So what can you do? Share this information with other parents. We know that it can be hard to talk about underage drinking with the parents of your child’s friends—but we think that preventing brain damage and school trouble is great motivation. Talk to other parents about the rules you set in your home, and find out their rules as well.

The story was featured on NPR on January 25^th.

For more information, visit us at www.21reasons.org. We even have a resource section just for parents.

Positive Messaging for Prevention

How do you get kids to behave in a certain way while keeping them feeling good about themselves? It’s a tricky situation for parents and mentors. Always correcting a child’s behavior by telling them that they’re wrong may not be very helpful. A recent post to the Portland Public Schools’ Listserv reminded us of this excellent advice:

If the coach says "Don't miss," the kicker hears two negatives, "don't" and "miss." Thinking about avoiding the negatives, the kicker sees the goal posts or the edges of failure. Instead, suggests Jimmie, the coach should say, "Make the kick." Now the kicker looks right down the middle and the goal posts seem to get wider. Odds are now better the kicker will indeed make the kick to win the game….Parents to toddlers walking near puddles, instead of "Don't get your feet wet," how about "Keep your feet dry." Source

But research shows that youth are far less likely to drink alcohol if they believe their parents think it would be “very wrong.”

So how can parents get this message across in a positive way?

Maybe the solution is to put the primary emphasis on the things that ARE expected: do your best in school, protect your brain and your body, be kind and considerate of others, be truthful about what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with, go to parties where parents are present and no alcohol is available to youth, be home by curfew. Then, within that context, list some of the things that would interfere—such as drinking alcohol before age 21.

Parent reports underage drinking party

Over the weekend, Portland police broke up an underage drinking party, thanks to the report of a parent whose teen was involved:

Charges stem from Portland teen party

PORTLAND – Police broke up a party during the weekend involving 35 to 40 teenagers, mostly from Deering and Portland high schools. Police were called to 16 Hope Ave. at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, after the parent of a teenager who had been drinking at the party reported it, police said …Police issued a court summons to a 16-year-old for furnishing the alcohol. [A father and son] were ordered to appear in court on charges of furnishing a place for minors to drink.

Reporting a party can be difficult choice for a parent, and we appreciate this parent’s decision to prioritize the health and safety of the young people involved. It’s up to each one of us to help make sure youth are safe, and we all are responsible for reporting dangerous situations—like underage drinking parties.

To those who are wondering, “What’s the big deal as long as they’re not driving?” we would point out that every year, alcohol contributes to more youth deaths than all other illegal drugs combined, and only 1/3 of those deaths are from car crashes.

The reality is that 2/3 of underage drinking deaths are the result of suicides, homicides, and injuries like alcohol poisoning, drowning, burns, falls, and suffocation. And there is collateral damage as well: underage drinking also increases youth risk of depression, addiction, sexual assault, teen pregnancy, school failure, and delinquency.

There is nothing to celebrate about that.

If you hear of an underage drinking party, report it to your local police department. A list of numbers for Southern Maine police departments is available here.

More tips for parental monitoring are available on our Parent Resources page.

Webinar for Parents

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is offering a free webinar for parents to help protect their kids from substance and alcohol use. Information is below.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America invites you to a free Webinar and presents:

Parents: You Matter, a community presentation program that provides parents and caring adults with tools and information about why kids use drugs and alcohol, and how parents can protect their children. All resources will be made available to webinar attendees, including the presentation, an annotated script and additional materials about the program. Who: Tom Hedrick, Founding Member and Senior Communications Officer, Partnership for a Drug-Free America Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT Space is limited. The deadline is August 21. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/755864587 After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the free Webinar.

Local Heroes

Liz Blackwell-Moore, Project Manager from the Communities Promoting Health Coalition at PROP, was on Channel 6 this weekend, talking about their new youtube video and how to prevent underage drinking.

Click the picture below to view the video:

Home Alone

A recent story on NPR’s Morning Edition covered the topic of when tweens can be left home alone:

It’s a balancing act for parents, trying to balance independence while providing effective parental monitoring skills. The conundrum for many parents is that they want to trust their kids to be home alone, yet many recall from their own teen years that inevitable tug toward the forbidden.

"They're looking for trouble, and exploring and pushing boundaries" says [William L. Coleman, professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill] "That's normal."

It's important for parents to recognize that there's a lot of variability among kids. Some will push the boundaries in reckless, dangerous ways, like experimenting with sex and drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System says that more than 75 percent of high school students have experimented with alcohol, 38 percent report that they've tried marijuana, and 48 percent have had sex.

Coleman says the developing brain tends to get a little reward for risky business.
"Getting that rush of adrenaline, and then talking about it to your friends," says Coleman, "that's huge."

Studies show that late afternoons—the time after school and before parents get home from work—are the prime time for kids to try out forbidden behaviors, like drinking alcohol.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America recommends:

The most important time of day to monitor is after school from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Kids are at the greatest risk for abusing drugs during these hours. Call your child's school to find out about adult-supervised activities he can take part in during these hours. Encourage her to get involved with youth groups, art or music programs, organized sports, community service or academic clubs. Follow up with your child to make sure he is actually going to the program he has chosen.

More parental monitoring tips are available here.

Alcopops and parents

More than one half of adults believe that alcopops promote underage drinking. That’s the result of a recent study by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Alcopops are sweet, flavored alcoholic beverages that look and taste like soda, tea, punch, or lemonade. The labels on these drinks can be confusing, and even though they often have a higher alcohol content than beer, the product packaging may not even be clear that there is alcohol inside.

According to the survey, most adults support stricter laws regarding alcopops.

For more information about how alcohol is marketed to youth, visit the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth.

via Forbes Online

February Tip of the Month

ANFSCD, how 2 KIT w/yr kid w/TXT n IM

Some new research from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and MetLife Foundation shows that nearly 25% of all teens would prefer to have a serious conversation about drug and alcohol use over email or text message. Only three percent of parents would choose to communicate with their kids this way.

While face to face conversation is most teens’ choice for this kind of communication, parents might be missing a big opportunity if they don’t embrace new technology.

Parents who are waiting for the "right time" to talk with their kids about drugs and alcohol may be missing everyday opportunities to connect on this important issue, said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Partnership. "While nothing can take the place of an in-person conversation between parents and teens, for some parents, emails, cell phone conversations, and even texting can help start a conversation with a reluctant teen and reinforce talks you've already had--plus, parents can reach teens at times when use tends to be likelier--after school, on weekends and during unsupervised time."

The survey underscores that "Generation Text" has arrived -- when asked which was more important for everyday communication with friends, texting or social networking; teens were far more likely to communicate directly by texting (63 percent) than to rely on websites like Facebook (38 percent) to stay connected. And teens don't only want to hear from their friends. A majority of teens -- 67 percent -- were open to receiving texts from their parents after school -- a time when teens are most likely to be unsupervised. For many parents, texting may be an additional tool for monitoring and staying in touch with teens.

For parents who are nervous about using technology, Partnership for a Drug Free America publishes a free how-to text guide (.pdf) and a list of 7 Ways to Connect With Your Teen Using Technology. There are several TXT MSG translations available online.