The Power Of Parents - You Are Your Children's Role Models.

Unfortunately I see it all too often. Parents having a good time with their friends while their children watch them. Why wouldn't it look like fun? Everyone is laughing and having a good time. "I can't wait to be like that when I grow up!" I've intervened at my families house about  making sure we don't oohhhh and aahhhhh about drinks we are drinking. Why wouldn't a child want to try that when they grow up? They wonder what they are missing and save it in the back of their minds for later. "Ummm...the adults really enjoyed that drink." 


On October 27^th, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) launched The Power of Parents: It's Your Influence (www.thepowerofparents.org). This program was designed to help provide us as parents with key tips, information, and tools to help us at home reach our teens and communicate the real life danger of underage alcohol use.

 

I am thrilled to be part of this campaign through Mom Central. Me and other women who blog about our children would love for you to head over to The Power Of Parents where you find the necessary information and tools to help you talk to your children about drinking.

Underage drinking has emerged as the number one youth drug problem. By being an informed, caring parent you can strongly impact your child's decisions regarding alcohol. In fact, 74% of kids will turn to their parents for guidance on drinking. And research shows that as moms we are the number one influencers in dealing with this issue. For teens, alcohol is an illegal drug—and a zero tolerance policy is the best policy to have as a parent. 

Roughly 6,000 people will die this year in direct correlation with underage drinking—a statistic that can be greatly reduced with parental intervention.

We are not our children's friends, we are their mentors. Talking to them on their individual level is very important and The Power of Parents is going to be a great resource for me as my children become older. I have already started the conversations about our private areas, bad people, smoking, lying, strangers, and keeping secrets. Underage drinking and drinking responsibly later in life hasn't been something we have touched on (my children are 4 and 6). 


However I was excited to see that The Power of Parents has some great resources for children as young as 1st grade with their Protecting You, Protecting Me Program.

You can find advice broken down by age on The Powers of Parents such as the video below. The Zoo DVD Class Pack is designed for classroom use with students in grades 3-5

I fully support and donate to MADD yearly. I appreciate how they continue to educate the general public and are constantly making sure that we, as parents have the best resources to speak to our children about drinking. There is no better time than now. Speak to your children. Keep the line of communication open. Let them know that you have a zero tolerance policy. But make sure that they know they CAN call you if they make a mistake. We are their best role models so remember to always use caution and practice what you preach. Your children are watching!
 

Learn more:

The Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving kicked off in November 2006 with the goal of eliminating drunk driving permanently. The Campaign has four essential elements:

• Mandatory ignition interlocks for ALL convicted drunk drivers
• Increased law enforcement efforts including crackdowns during holiday weekends, sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols
• Advanced vehicle technology that would make it impossible for a drunk person to start a vehicle
• Public support – led by you and other concerned citizens nationwide

•    MADD Blog
•    Twitter
•   Facebook
•   Safety Quiz: Underage drinking
•   Support 21 Survey


*Disclaimer: “I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of MADD.  A donation was made to MADD in my name to thank me for taking the time to participate.”