Teaching Teens to Refuse Alcohol

Recently I read an article about a new trend in America—parents allowing their teens to drink at home. Apparently, the idea behind this is that drinking in the home setting will demystify alcohol and help the young people learn to drink responsibly.

Before I tell you what I think about that trend, let me share this fact with you. 11% of the alcohol consumed in the United States is consumed by underage kids. That’s a staggering statistic. Alcohol abuse among teens is becoming an enormous problem in America.

With that in mind, here is my comment on parents letting or even encouraging their teenagers to drink at home. With all the kindness and Christian charity this Texan can muster I ask these parents: Are you nuts? If you follow that same line of thinking, then you’ll also allow them to have sex at home, take drugs at home, lie and cheat at home. That’s just crazy!

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By: Mark Gregston, www.blogs.christianpost.com

General Assembly Takes Aim At Cyberbullying and Teen Violence

There are three bills before the General Assembly that address issues associated with teen dating and associated violence.

HB 6629 would allow teens to secure a restraining order against an abusive teen dating partner. HB 6053 would revise the state's bullying law to include teen dating violence. And SB 1138 targets cyberbullying. The three proposed bills should get a floor vote in the coming weeks.

"The whole idea here is how teens can protect themselves through the legal system," said Bob Kocienda, chair of the Norwalk-based Center for Youth Leadership.

HB 6629 wouljd allow teens experiencing constant threat of present physical pain or physical injury, a pattern of verbal intimidation, threatening or stalking by family or someone in, or recently in, a dating relationship, to apply for a restraining order "regardless of the age of such persons."

Only two other states, Rhode Island and California, allow teens to get restraining orders against other teens.

Under the bill, police much inform victims of abuse about options, including restraining orders and where to find domestic violence help. The Judiciary Committee unanimously passed teh bill out of committee.

"Anything that strengthens anti-bullying efforts is very positive," said Dani Gorman, head of the Youth Services Bureau in Waterford. "A lot of young people struggle with healthy and unhealthy relationships."
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By: Jessie King and Catheryn J. Prince, http://waterford.patch.com

Does Drinking With Parents Help Teens Drink More Responsibly? Not Really

When I was in high school, my parents laid down a few ground rules about exactly how “liberating” my teenage emancipation was going to be. No driving without an adult in the car past dark, no staying out past 11 p.m., and no, absolutely no, drinking.

Well, it turns out Mom and Dad were on to something (don't you hate it when that happens?). A new study by researchers at the University of Minnesota found that teens who drink under their parents' supervision — the occasional sip at dinner or during holidays — are more likely to become problem drinkers a few years later than those whose parents, like mine, adopted a zero-tolerance policy.

When it comes to underage drinking, there are two schools of thought. Some are convinced that teens are too young and inexperienced to handle alcohol, and not ready to make decisions about how much is too much or how to drink responsibly.

Then there are those who point to cultures where alcohol isn't so taboo for adolescents, where adults allow their children to drink a little in their presence, and where alcoholism rates are no different from those in countries where underage drinking is illegal. By incorporating alcohol into youngsters' lives from an early age, and not making it a forbidden fruit, they argue, teens are less likely to abuse it as adults.

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By: Alice Park, www.healthland.time.com

Teens Warn of Underage Drinking

With prom and graduation just around the corner, St. Charles high school students and police hit the streets to spread teh message that providing alcohol to minors is illegal. The effort was the St. Charles Police Department's first year of Project Sticker Shock, a program of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. April is Alcohol Awareness Month.

"I definitely feel there's a lot of underage drinking going on, especially around prom, and there's a stigma out there that the only way you can have fun is by drinking," said St. Charles North senior Buddy Haas. "So if you cut it off at the source, that can hep solve the problem."

Officers and students from both St. Charles North and East high schools aimed to stop last week at the 89 businesses with liquor licenses and provide them with signs and stickers warning cutomers that it's illegal to buy alcohol for someone under 21 and to use a fake ID.

"We're not delivering or sending people a message they haven't heard, but because it's a problem that persists and grows, we need to keep sending the message," Comander Jerry Gatlin said. While he said he doesn't believe underage drinking is more of a problem in St. Charles than otehr communities, he said nationwide it "is in a sense an epidenic and it has been for years. If one kid is out there drinking and drinking too much, it's one kid too many," he said.

In 2009, an 18-year-old was killed when the vehicle he was riding in struck two trees at a high rate of speed along Royal Fox Drive in St. Charles. The driver, also 18, allegedly had a blood-alcohol level almost three times the legal limit and later pleaded guilty to aggravated drunken driving and reckless homicide charges.

Read entire article By: Melissa Jenco, http://www.triblocal.com/

Moms Talk Q&A: Teen Dating Dilemmas

It's time to grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation with this week's issue:

Today we're taking a look at an age-old topic: Teen dating. With middle school dances, Facebook flirting (being in a "relationship" is just a click away, and so is "poking" a friend) and everything else that makes connecting with a crush super-easy in our fast-paced world, is it possible to stick to a set age for your child's entrance into the dating world? According to a Dr. Phil message board, many parents still believe 16 is the right year to allow a first date, and even then, many encourage group outings. We found these tips for talking to your child about the subject, and now we're hoping you'll add your own advice.

The question: Is there a perfect age to allow your child to start dating?

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By: Beth Blanck, southeast.patch.com

Drug Trends – Teen Issues

The world outside has not become less real just because the prisoner cannot see it.” J.R.R. Tolkien

Recently, several officers from the Sheriff’s Department of a large Georgia city talked with our staff concerning the drugs they were seeing emerge on the streets. As they spoke about what they were witnessing and how drugs were being made, I was struck by one of the officer’s comments: “We will never be able to do anything but play catch up. People who want to use drugs will always be ahead of us.” What a sad commentary, but how true it is that individuals who want to get high, will make every effort to do so, often with that which is most accessible.

So what is a parent to do? How are we to know what might emerge next or how can we protect our children? Think how each decade has represented a new era in drugs. In the 50’s it was alcohol, the 60’s marijuana, the 70’s psychotropic drugs like LSD and mushrooms, the 80’s cocaine and crack, the 90’s chemically made drugs like ecstasy (MDMA), and since 2000, it has been a litany of new chemically concocted drugs. A stimulant that is making much of the news lately is Crystal Methamphetamine. One of the officers, when talking about Crystal Meth made the comment that in the 80’s he had thought crack would be the death of this country. Now he would say that Crystal Meth has become far worse than crack ever was. What is even more disturbing is that people are now using fruit flavoring to entice and attract new users.

In looking back over the decades, we as parents must realize that this trend is a natural progression. The economic concept of supply and demand does an effective job of teaching us what we should expect would happen.

Think of it this way: There is a demand/desire to get high for the following reasons:

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By: Drew Read, Parent's Purpose

Lead Your Adult Children Back to Christ

If you’ve suffered the pain of seeing one or more of your adult children leave the faith, you may feel as if there’s nothing you can do to lead them back to Christ now that they’re no longer living with you. But it’s never too late to help your kids re-connect with Christ. No matter what’s happened in your children’s relationships with Christ and with you, healing and reconciliation are possible.

Here’s how you can lead your adult children back to Christ:

Set a goal and commit to doing all you can to reaching it. Aim for helping your adult kids love God with all of their hearts, put their full faith and trust in Christ for both their present and their future, and arrive in heaven to join you someday. Keep that goal in mind often as you work to encourage faith in your kids.

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Whitney Hopler, Crosswalk.com contributor