Information for Parents

Prevention Newsletter

Vol. 2 Issue 3 January 2010 Ilwaco Middle/High School

Prevention information is now available on the Ocean Beach School District website under “Parent Resources”. www.ocean.k12.wa.us

Good Parenting Creates Drug-Free Kids, Conference Experts Say
By Bob Curley

Of all the answers offered at a recent conference on "How to Raise a Drug-Free Kid: The Straight Dope," perhaps the one from Joseph A. Califano, Chairman and Founder of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA*) at Columbia University, best summed up the advice to parents.

Califano closed the Nov. 17 CASACONFERENCESM by recounting a discussion with his former law partner, Edward Bennett Williams, just days before his death in 1988. Asked the most important lesson he had learned in a lifetime spending rubbing shoulders with luminaries like Ben Bradlee, Frank Sinatra and Hugh Hefner, Williams simply responded, "Always leave a light on in the window for your kids."

In other words: "Be a parent."

The underlying theme to the daylong conference, and work such as CASA's annual reports on the importance of family dinners, is that just having parents isn't enough to prevent adolescent alcohol and other drug problems. Parents need to consistently interact with their children in order to be effective drug-prevention agents.

"Parents have profound power, but they need to engage," said conference presenter Ross B. Brower, M.D., assistant professor of clinical health and an attending physician at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York.

The "Nine Facets of Parental Engagement" in Califano's latest book, which lent its title to the conference, provides a 'how-to' checklist for parents:

·  Be there: Get involved in your children's lives and activities.

·  Open the lines of communication and keep them open.

·  Set a good example: Actions are more persuasive than words.

·  Set rules and expect your children to follow them.

·  Monitor your children's whereabouts.

·  Maintain family rituals such as eating dinner together.

·  Incorporate religious and spiritual practices into family life.

·  Get Dad engaged -- and keep him engaged.

·  Engage the larger family of your children's friends, teachers, classmates, neighbors and community.

Opening the conference, keynote speaker Nora Volkow, M.D., stressed that the brains of children and adolescents are still forming, and that their "developmental trajectory" can be greatly influenced by external stimuli -- especially that provided by parents.

"Kids are making choices using criteria we as adults don't remember, because we don't think that way anymore," noted conference speaker Cynthia Kuhn, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology and cancer biology at the Duke University Medical Center and co-author of a pair of books on youth and drugs. "Parents, you're their frontal cortex, because they don't have one yet."

First and foremost, parents need to lead by example, said Brower. "Through your behaviors and actions you are constantly communicating to your children," he said. Parental actions like their own drinking, smoking and drug-using habits are the main lessons parents deliver, "enhanced by the occasional conversation," he said.

Parents shouldn't be intimidated by the idea of 'The Big Talk' -- in fact, they shouldn't even plan to deliver an anti-drug speech to their children unless there's an immediate crisis to confront, experts say. "It should be a series of small conversations," said Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, who took part in a panel discussion on "How to Harness the Power of Parenting."

Recent Events:

Approximately 80 high school students attended “Game Night” on January 15th. Students played games and enjoyed treats in a healthy, safe, and fun environment.

Sarah Taylor Prevention/Intervention Specialist 642-1244