10 Tips for Parents During Prom/Graduation
- Communicate-
start the conversation with your teen
- Before
prom or graduation festivities, discuss your concerns. Ask where your
child plans to go, and with whom. Discuss the possibility that alcohol
will be present, and emphasize to your teenager that drinking is illegal
at this age, and that alcohol use can be dangerous.
- Be
aware that alcohol is often easy to access
- Reports
show that teens feel they can access alcohol more readily as they
approach their senior year.
- Make
sure you don’t become the point of access. Know how much alcohol you have
in the house and where you keep it.
- Discuss
peer pressure/influence
- Peer
pressure often pushes good kids into making bad decisions, and adding
alcohol can make things worse. Discuss your teen’s plans for the night
and have them check-in if there will be changes so that there is an
opportunity for them to ‘get out’ of an uncomfortable situation
- Host
a prom or graduation party – just don’t include alcohol
- Hosting
a party can be a good thing, but providing alcohol can cause problems for
teens and liability for the parent host. Remember, it is a myth that
providing alcohol to teens at home at home is safer.
- Remember
- it’s not just driving - teen who are drunk are more prone to get into
fights, be either the victims or perpetrators of sexual assaults, or get
into other accidents that do not necessarily involve a car.
- Don’t
make assumptions when it comes to drinking and driving
- Have
an active conversation with your teen about the physical effects of
alcohol on driving ability with a focus on safety.
- Remind
them of the zero tolerance law – that it is illegal for anyone under 21
to drive with any detectable alcohol in their bloodstream.
- Remind
them not to ride with others who have been drinking.
- Have
a safety plan
- As
you discuss the plan for your teen and their friends, make a plan for
safety too.
- Make
sure your teen has alternatives to driving if he or she has been
drinking; discuss a ‘code word’ that can be used in regular conversation
to get a teen out of a tough situation.
- During
prom and graduation, teens often travel in groups. Make sure you have
discussed a plan with your teen in case they are stuck in an unsafe
situation where their driver has been drinking.
- Consider
the future
- Whether
your teen is headed to college or the work force, bad decisions at key
moments like at prom or graduation can influence the future. Arrests or
convictions can affect the college application process or a job
interview.
- Ahhh,
the internet
- Remind
your kids that pictures on the internet will be seen, and not just by
you. So, if they choose to party with alcohol, remember that people with
cameras or cell phones may be posting pictures, blogging about the night,
or emailing to friends.
- If
a teen comes home drunk consider the Emergency Room
- Hopefully,
you will not get to this point, but there are some things to check for:
- If
your teen ‘passes out’, cannot be woken up, has pinpoint pupils, or has
shallow breathing, don’t risk having him or her just sleep it off –
contact the ER so an expert can make the call. It’s safer to deal with
the hassle than the consequences of a bad decision.
- The
Health Alliance
on Alcohol
- There
are resources online to help begin these conversations. Check out the
Facts & Conversation series available for FREE at
HealthAllianceonAlcohol.com