The number one cause of death amongst youngster between the ages of 15 and 24 is drunk driving and so educating your teenagers about the dangers of drinking and driving is particularly important, not only for their own protection but for the protection of other road users and pedestrians.The first mistake which many parents make in this area is to assume that they do not need to raise the subject until their own teenagers learn to drive. You do not need to be behind the wheel of a car to understanding the dangers of drunk driving and, like everything else you teach your children, the earlier they learn the more likely the lessons are to stick.When it comes to the consequences of drunk driving teenagers need to fully understand just what it means to kill another person on the road and the devastating impact which this can have on their family and friends. But they also need to realize that many people are also injured as a result of drunk driving and they and their families may have to live with the consequences of severe injury for the rest of their lives. This is not always easy for a teenager to understand but it is a lesson which they need to learn.It is also important for teenagers to fully understand the consequences of being caught behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated. So, find out about the drink driving laws in your state and clearly spell out the consequences of a drink driving conviction. Explain to them that a drink driving conviction can not only land them in jail, but can also ruin their career prospects and prevent them from getting a good job.Now, despite your best efforts, it is still quite possible that your teenager is going to find himself in the position of having had too much to drink when he is out with the car and being caught between driving the car home when he knows he is not fit to do so, or calling you and getting yelled at for being so irresponsible. So, this too is something which you need to discuss with him before it happens.Remember that we all do silly things when we are young and the most important thing is to stay safe, learn our lesson and live to try again to get it right next time. So, if your child is in this position he must know that he can call you no matter what condition he is in or what time of the day or night it is to come and pick him up.This is not to say that you are condoning his actions in getting drunk or that he should not be punished for his irresponsibility. But your first job is to keep him safe and make him realize that he made the right
, sensible and mature decision by calling you for help.Finally remember that there is no better way to teach your children anything than through your own example and that means making sure that you never drink and drive yourself. If your children see you leaving your car keys at home and taking a taxi to go out to a party then they will follow suit.
Posts Tagged ‘educating’
Educating Teenagers About Drinking And Driving
Saturday, February 14th, 2009Teen Smoking: Educating Your Teens On The Dangers Of Smoking
Friday, June 6th, 2008Teens are unaware of the dangers of smoking because they see their elders happily puffing away. Peer pressure is another culprit that leads young people to smoke, but in some cases, smoking is an act of defiance or simply the result of curiosity. If you suspect your teen is into smoking and if your suspicion is correct, be concerned and educate your child on the dangers of smoking.
Smoking and It’s Threat to Life and Limb
Each year, millions of people die from smoking-related diseases. The figure is likely to increase yearly as more young people are taking up the deadly vice. The youngest smoker is a 7-year-old kid who earns his keep scrounging for recyclable scraps.
This scenario is in a third world country and is just the tip of an iceberg. Smoking is eating away young lives but earning governments billions of dollars in tax revenues. So the issue remains unresolved, similar to the early dire global warming predictions, which many choose to ignore.
Several cancers are results of years of smoking and young people are at a higher risk because of their early and prolonged exposure to the poison. But quitting smoking is just as difficult as quitting heroin. Support groups are available to help people get out of the rat hole and start living healthier lives. But it is easier said than done. Smoking is not illegal and minors caught smoking are not penalized. Therefore, the vicious cycle continues. If you are parent with teens who smoke, you should be concerned and take immediate action to help your teens quit the addictive habit.
Helping Teens Quit Smoking
A distraught mom reported that her son and daughter were caught smoking in their rooms. The telltale odor of cigarette smoke gave away the secret. Empty cigarette packs and cigarette butts were uncovered in the trash bin. Alarmed, she reported the incident to her husband, also a non-smoker and together they educated their children on the dangers of smoking, enlisting them in a rehabilitation and support program to help wean their children from smoking.
If you can’t catch your children smoking at home, try to find out who they hang out with and where they spend time after school. Somehow, someone will be able to tell you if your teen’s friends are into smoking for the fun of it.
Telling your son or daughter not to go with their smoking friends will not yield any promising result. Instead, invite their friends over and show them YouTube videos on the irreversible effects of smoking on the body. Give them books on the effect of smoking or invite a doctor to your children’s school or to a homeowners’ association meeting to discuss the perils of smoking. Organize parents and ask the school’s administration and faculty to wage war on smoking. There shouldn’t be smoking and non-smoking areas in schools. Instead, smoking should be banned outright. Amid protests, you can always make it clear that sometimes parents and teachers have to be cruel in order to be kind. Smoking is deadly and there is no other euphemism for it.
Be unswerving in your efforts to wage war against teen smoking. Smoking teens will be smoking adults and will suffer the consequences in the future. Instead of waiting for disaster to strike, start the campaign now. If you love your teens, put your foot down. They’ll thank you for your sustained efforts to help them get rid of a deadly and costly habit.
What’s a Parent to Do? Educating your Troubled Teen
Sunday, May 25th, 2008So when adolescents develop behavioral problems, mood disorders or social issues that interrupt their education, parents are doubly distressed. For troubled teens, almost by definition, have trouble in school.
Dealing with a troubled teen is an enormous challenge for both parents and teachers. Public schools, hard pressed to meet the academic needs of normal students, are often not equipped to meet the emotional demands of the problem student. Many parents consider boarding school or military academy just to get their child back into a classroom, but even in those closed and structured environments many troubled teens will continue to struggle.
What’s a parent to do? Many start by seeking advice from other parents who have dealt or are dealing with a troubled teen. Hearing about a program first-hand from someone who’s been in your shoes can save you valuable time, money and frustration when it comes to helping your own child.
Other parents outreach to independent educational consultants who handle special needs clients. These professionals, many of whom are former educators and guidance counselors, can identify and help you select a suitable school or program for your teen. Depending on the teen’s specific problems, recommendations might include emotional growth schools, therapeutic boarding schools, home-based residential programs, therapeutic wilderness programs, or residential treatment centers.
If the choices seem bewildering, it’s because there are many valid approaches today for treating troubled teens. Currently several hundred programs exist, serving 10,000 to 20,000 students annually. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David L. Marcus looked at one such program in his recent book, What It Takes to Pull Me Through: Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of Them Got Out. His study of the complex world of troubled teenagers was conducted at the Academy at Swift River, an emotional growth school in western Massachusetts. The success of his book is indicative of the growing interest in and demand for programs to serve a growing segment of America’s twenty-nine million adolescents.
Nor has the phenomenon been lost on the media. ABC’s reality series Brat Camp shows the choices faced by nine families dealing with out-of-control teenagers with problems like ADHD, drug addiction, promiscuity and fighting. Each chooses to send their teen to SageWalk, a wilderness school in rural Oregon, hoping that after the 50-day program is over they’ll get back the children they once knew.
With attention like this, industry critics have emerged as well. Some charge program operators of profiteering by promising miracles to desperate parents, but many more cite the overall lack of federal regulations and the patchwork of state regulations that govern the behavioral health care industry. Right now, therapeutic and emotional growth schools are regulated like ordinary boarding schools. Except for residential treatment centers, there are no regulations requiring specific educational or professional credentials for program operators. There is also no uniform set of national, government-endorsed standards by which parents can judge a program’s effectiveness.
Fortunately, high and rigorously enforced standards are in place for these schools and programsโstandards imposed by the industry itself.
NATSAP
In 1999, concerned about the industry’s lack of uniform ethical and practice guidelines to protect at-risk teens and families in crises, The Family Foundation School joined six other programs and a small group of individuals to form the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP). Today, with more than 170 members, NATSAP serves as an advocate and resource for innovative organizations that devote themselves to the effective care and education of struggling young people and their families. Envisioning “a nation of healthy children,” NATSAP has become the voice that inspires, nurtures and validates its member schools and programs.
Parents and others concerned about the efficacy and integrity of therapeutic programs in an otherwise unregulated industry can turn to NATSAP for guidance. The association serves as an unofficial watchdog, calling attention to substandard and predatory programs that can injure participants emotionally, psychologically, physically and financially. While the vast majority of therapeutic schools and programs provide treatment rooted in sound clinical practice and concern for the growth and well-being of the young people they serve, there are operations that lack respect and sensitivity to individual needs, that rely solely on internal feedback and consequently fail to learn, improve or grow.
NATSAP has established benchmarks first and foremost for treatment and behavioral practices that reduce risk, promote safety, and demand continuous program improvements. The organization provides members with the latest research on treating troubled teens and tested methods for helping families in crises. It has also established admissions guidelines that protect parents from false advertising and misleading claims of services. Most important, it has established and enforces ethics and practice standards for its members, and adds to these standards regularly.
We want to make it clear that NATSAP is not an accrediting or licensing body, but an independent, voluntary organization. It does not provide placement services. However, it is an indispensable resource and a good first stop for parents pursuing a placement for their child in any program. By choosing a NATSAP member, you can be sure you’re dealing with an organization that is serious about how you are served, who values ethical integrity, who recognizes how vulnerable a family is when making the difficult decision to place a child outside the home, and whose primary goal is the education, growth and well-being of your troubled teen.
The Right Match
Each adolescent at risk has specific needs that must be determined in detail before he or she can be successfully placed in a therapeutic school or program. As a parent, you can make sure the ultimate match is the correct one by arranging for whatever academic and psychological tests may be necessary, and by using multiple informational sources before making your final decision. The industry offers a wide and growing array of program types, lengths of stay, and services to meet the needs of a variety of troubled young peopleโwhich is a good reason to review your choices with the help of an educational consultant. As we mentioned above, these independent professionals know the industry inside out and will work with you and your child to find the best possible placement. (To locate a consultant near you, visit Independent Educational Consultants Association website). Whether you decide to work with a consultant, with referrals from other parents, or to strike out on your own, you owe it to yourself and your child to find out as much as possible about this segment of the educational field, and the journey on which you’re about to embark.
The good news is that all the information you could possibly wantโand then someโis as close as your computer. Since an Internet search of “trouble teens” will yield millions of hits, you should probably begin by checking out the websites of schools or programs you’ve heard of, or have been referred to (they all have websites). Or start with NATSAP, or another online directory of schools and programs for troubled teens. One we recommend is http://strugglingteens.com. Developed by the highly respected industry newsletter Woodbury Reports, this website provides a wealth of news, information, and research findings pertaining to teens at risk. Here you can find valuable insights into the industry and of particular help is the coverage of new schools and programs, and of what works in this industry and what doesn’t.
Other organization websites worth visiting are the American Psychological Association,National Association of Social Workers, National Board for Certified Counselors, and American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.
It’s been said that the primary job of youth is to get an education. When troubled teens fall down on the job, it is up to us as parents, counselors and educators to make sure they’re given a hand up and a way back to the classroom. For this we need a strong network of therapeutic schools and programs.