MADD Campaign: Parents Should Tell Kids
Alcohol Use 'Completely Unacceptable' Before 21
'Do they really believe it is that
simple?' asks former Mulberry College president.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving launched
a new campaign with Nationwide Insurance on Tuesday, encouraging parents to
communicate a "clear no use" message about alcohol to children under
age 21.
"It's crucial for parents to have
ongoing, intentional conversations with their teens about alcohol, but it's
also important to make sure the message they're sending is clear - no alcohol
before 21," said Bill Windsor, Nationwide Insurance's associate vice
president of consumer safety, in a press release.
"Our kids are listening; but what
parents say and how they say it makes all the difference," added MADD
National President Jan Withers.
The new campaign is premised on an
online survey of 655 high school students - most of them between ages 14 and 18
- by SurveyMonkey. Around 70 percent of respondents said they had never
consumed alcohol.
Around 59 percent of the respondents
said their parents found it "completely unacceptable" for someone
their age to drink - 8 percent of whom were active drinkers, according to MADD.
The remaining 41 percent said their parents found it either "somewhat
unacceptable," "somewhat acceptable" or "completely
acceptable" - and 42 percent of that group were active drinkers, MADD
said.
This is a so very true, communication with your children is so critical to their behavior. There have been TV ads dealing with alcohol and with drugs being consumed by children, telling how you need to talk to your children. Believe it or not, children do listen to parents when you take the time to talk to them. Time spent talking before the problem raises its ugly head is so much more beneficial versus punishment for getting caught. If you don't let them know your feeling on the subject, they will act on their own curiosity or peer pressure rather that your advice. Just talk to your kids and make them aware of your feelings on the subject. ;o)
