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The Partnership for a Drug Free America and the Hershey Company are teaming up to launch "Sweet Talk Tools for Families" -- a new website offering tips and tools to help parents communicate with kids about making healthy choices. The site focuses on encouraging parents and kids to bake together as an opportunity to talk, share personal experiences, work together and listen to each other.

Jennifer Goss, community relations manager for The Hershey Company, commented on the new program: "Nothing is more important than spending quality time with your kids, and the kitchen offers wonderful opportunities for getting together. While you're checking out recipes, mixing and baking chocolate treats together, you can catch up on your children's busy lives, and talk about some serious subjects in a relaxed setting."

"Sweet Talk Tools for Families" utilizes useful talk tips such as Teachable Moments, a communication strategy developed by the Partnership, as well as five simple Hershey recipes that parents and kids can use together.

Andy Phillips, national director of corporate relations for the Partnership, explained: "Talking with kids about the risks of drugs and alcohol isn't as hard as parents think and these unique Sweet Talk tools help make these conversations easier with free, research-based tools and tips to help parents and caregivers have ongoing discussions with their kids."

The "Sweet Talk" site is part of the Partnership's nationwide initiative Time to Talk, which reinforces the significant influence of parents in helping children make healthy choices. The Partnership champions the idea that parents can minimize the risk of drug and alcohol abuse by being heroes in their kids' lives.

(Source: prnewswire.com)

Labels: parental-involvement, healthy choices, communication

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Michael and Meme are juniors at Vashon High School in Puget Sound, Washington. From their perspective, communication trumps attempted eradication as the key to preventing teen drug use.

"Virtually no community exists today without some kind of substance around, whether it is alcohol, prescription pills, or spray paint. Some grow in our soil, like psychedelic mushrooms, and it is literally impossible to get rid of them. So, as teenagers, we hope that the focus is on communication between two separate entities - teenagers and adults - instead of wasting time trying to eliminate drugs entirely."

Bridging the communication gap between teens and parents gives teens the information they need to make wise decisions. It also builds the type of relationship between parents and teens that gives parents genuine influence in their kids' lives. Source: Vashon Beachcomber

Labels: parental-involvement, communication, relationships

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In Connecticut, a group of parents is ready to try something different in order to protect their kids from the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse: homework. Not for the kids, but for the parents.

The as-yet-unnamed group includes 20 parents equipped with training and materials to lead intensive 12-hour workshops designed to teach skills such as how to communicate with your kids about touchy subjects and where to set boundaries. [Source: New Canaan (CT) Patch]

Robert Curry, the man spearheading the new group, says the goal is to more than talk about drugs and alcohol. Parents to lay a foundation that will help them in all areas of parenting. The program is based on a curriculum developed by the Georgia-based Active Parenting Publishers and the book How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid by Joseph Califano.

 

Labels: parental-involvement, substance use, prevention, awareness

Posted By: Teen Drug Help 0 Comments

If you do not want your teenagers to drink too much, be a warm parent but make your children accountable to you, according to a major study from Brigham Young University.

Professor Stephan Bahr and his colleagues studied 5,000 people ages 12 to 19 years old to find out which teenagers are most at risk for binge drinking. Binge drinking means drinking five or more drinks in a row in one sitting.

"While parents did not have much of an effect on whether their teens tried alcohol, they can have a significant impact on the more dangerous type of drinking," said Dr. Bahr.

Parents who had warm relationships with their children, but yet insisted on knowing where their children were and who they were with, were least likely to have their teens binge drink. The friends of their children were less likely to drink at all.

Overly strict and overly indulgent parents did not fare as well. The ones who were high on warmth but unfocused on accountability, put their teens at a threefold risk for binge drinking. Those who were high on accountability but not warm toward their children had teens with twice the chances of becoming binge drinkers.

Advice to parents was to combine knowing what your children are doing when they are away from home with having warm loving relationships with them.

This research appeared in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
 

Labels: parental-involvement, binge drinking

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 0 Comments