Parents

Ask, Listen, Learn: Kids and Alcohol Don’t Mix empowers kids to say “YES” to a healthy lifestyle and “NO” to underage drinking.

The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org), a national not-for-profit dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, developed Ask, Listen, Learn alongside a team of educators and organizations specializing in middle school-aged students. This multimedia program continues Responsibility.org’s longstanding commitment to American youth, and provides kids with the necessary tools to make healthy lifestyle choices while also teaching them about the dangers of underage drinking.

Ask, Listen, Learn provides youth ages 9-12, their parents and educators with information about the dangers of underage drinking. In 2016, Ask, Listen, Learn launched science-based digital resources – including seven animated videos and lesson plans – that take kids on a journey through the developing brain, teaching them what the brain does, what alcohol does to it, and what that does to you. Teachers and parents can now feel equipped with the facts and tools to have a substantive and powerful conversation about the dangers of underage drinking.

Drug Abuse Prevention Starts with Parents

Drugs, including tobacco and alcohol, are easily available to children and adolescents. As a parent, you have a major impact on your child’s decision not to use drugs.

For families struggling with how to address underage drinking, MADD’s Power of Parents High School Handbook and Power of Parents Middle School Handbook give parents the tools to start the conversation, set family rules and enforce consequences; includes free 15-minute online workshops with tips and tools for parents on how to talk with their children about alcohol.

NIDA for Parents of Teens.

Young children are getting their hands on drugs more than ever before. It's becoming such a concern that the American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending children as young as nine be screened for substance abuse.

The purpose of this website is to educate families and the community about prescription drugs and some potential consequences of misusing, abuse or overusing prescription drugs. This includes taking any prescription medications that are not prescribed to you which is also illegal.   My goal is  help people better understand the disease of addiction and the recovery process and thus bring people suffering from addiction and their families and friends hope for the future. This website is a collection of links and resources. 

Information includes disease of addiction, complexity of recovery, questions to ask when looking for a recovery facility, pill facts, interactive websites for teens and kids....support groups.

Statistics:
·         According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, more than 1,050 people were killed in crashes involving a teen driver in 2016 during the 100 Deadliest Days, the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
·         In the Tampa Bay area, when compared to other days of the year, the average number of deaths from crashes involving teen drivers. Ages 16–19, increased by 16 percent during those 100 days. 
·         60 percent of teen crashes are caused by distracted driving
·         The biggest distraction? Other people in the car.
·         Crashes involving alcohol kill one in every 100,000 teens during the summer months.
 
What parents can do:
·        Talk to your teens about the importance of not allowing others to distract them in the car and to be a non-distracting passenger. Remind them that cars have passenger limits based on the number of seats, and to never get into an over-loaded car.
·         Set and enforce reasonably early curfews for teens during the summer months. Sleepy driving can be deadly driving.
·         Agree upon a safe word that your teen can text to you at any time that means “Come pick me up.” Give your teen the option of getting a ride home with mom or dad, no questions asked.
·         Remind them, daily, to not text, SnapChat, Instagram, or WhatsApp and drive.
·         Talk to them, continuously, about the dangers of driving impaired.