“I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Anheuser-Busch’s Family Talk About Drinking program. I received a promotional item to thank me for my participation.”
This school year has definitely went by too fast. For my kids the last day of school is next week and I have already been thinking of things to keep them busy. With my two oldest daughters that are teens, keeping them busy is a whole different story. They aren’t for the arts and crafts and trips to the zoo like my youngest two enjoy. They want to hang out with their friends and keep mom and dad on their toes.
We made it through prom this year with no problems. My daughter had talked about the parties that were happening after but didn’t even ask to go. Next school year is going to be a whole different story. My oldest daughter will be a senior in high school and will also turn 18. I remember when I turned 18, I thought it was my time to be my own boss. Luckily we have been successful on keeping her on the right track. We are always keeping it real, especially with our teens about what can happen when you do things that you shouldn’t like drinking alcohol! It is not a subject that you only talk about once, you have to keep following up with your child and keep up in the loop on what is going on in your child’s life.
Following up is important for several reasons:
- They help create accountability.
- They show you have a genuine concern for the end result.
- They create new opportunities for communication.
- They are another way to check in and stay connected with our kids – especially teens.
This month my teen’s school did something real cool when it comes to teaching teens about drinking. Their school participated in the “Every 15 Minutes” program that offers real-life experiences without the real-life risks. This program has been designed to dramatically instill our teens with the potentially dangerous consequences of drinking alcohol and texting while driving. They have a person dressed up as a grim reaper go into random classes to pull children to reenact what happens when you drink and drive. During the event they had a helicopter fly into the school’s football field, had cars that were wrecked and had the students portray that they were injured or dead from driving while under the influence. This program had a huge impact on the students and I think its something that should be done at every high school.
For those of you with teens, Anheuser-Busch offers the The Family Talk About Drinking Parent Guide to help with talking to your teens about the dangers of drinking alcohol. This is a very helpful guide and best of all it is FREE!
Like so many important topics, I agree that parents often take the concept that they only have to bring it up once–when that isn’t the case at all. It does need to be a topic that is continually addressed. Thanks for sharing!
Teens think they’re so infallible that it’s really important to drive the message home with impactful programs like this. It’s SO important!
My boys are still little, but they both know what alcohol is and they know that I don’t drink because I don’t like the taste. Hopefully that sticks with them.
I definitely still remember a similar program at my high school – looking at smashed and totaled cars before prom. Strong message! My kids are little (4 and 2) and I’ve already read about things like this… about how to talk to them about important issues… I’m not ready!
Talking with the kids about drinking is such an important thing, I know when the time comes I would like to be ready.
Teen drinking is such a problem. Thanks for posting!
The first thing that caught my eye on the graphic was “How do I get them to care?” I am so glad to have this resource – I don’t want to have this serious discussion with my son and have it turn our ineffective and turn him off…I want to have all this info so that I can make an impact with him the first time!! thx.
My kids are still very young for this talk, I do think it’s essential when they are tween age,
YES, this topic really needs to be addressed more often, great post!
After seeing images of Derrick W. from Sum 41, I realized what drinking can do to a person,,,so scary!!
This is an important topic that doesn’t get discussed enough. Thank you for bringing it up so candidly.
This is definitely quite an important subject when it comes to teenagers-alcohol can be super dangerous if you’re inexperienced with it and most teenagers and young adults are. Like anything else, education is key!
I totally agree, it’s so important that this is an ongoing topic of conversation. Boy, I’m glad that my son isn’t old enough yet to be having this conversations!
This is really great. I think we need to talk more about drinking with our kids. Open conversations is a good thing
Being open, honest, and down to earth when it comes to talking about things like sex, drugs, and alcohol with your kids is definitely the key to a good and educational conversation. Alcohol is extremely dangerous if abused and kids that young need to understand that.
Underage consumption is such a big problem, thanks for sharing this so we can learn to talk to our kids and prevent it.
I can’t believe how young drinking starts to happen any more. I still have a few years before we need to have the talks but it’s always nice to have the information before it’s needed. I think being honest and leaving the door open for honesty is a big help.
Ugh, I don’t even want to think about this yet. I was a horrible teen and really thought I could live through everything… Thankfully, I have about 10 years to worry about it.
Definitely an important topic! You hear too many horrible stories these days. 🙁
This such an important conversation to have with their kids. Peer pressure and poor choices start earlier and earlier these days. Congrats to your family for keeping the talk going!
I think it’s important to start talking about it as soon as they start high school and or going to parties.
It’s such an important topic. Sounds like your kids’s school was working on getting the message across.
Teens really think they are invincible and “it won’t happen to them”. It’s so important to discuss this topic with your children!
Talking with the kids about drinking is such an important thing,
This is so important. Parents need to keep the lines of communication open at all times to share sensitive topics as these.
Just another one of those subjects that are so tough to talk about and so important.