The Power of Parents: It's YOUR Influence

Thursday, October 29, 2009

With worries about your teen behind the wheel, comes concerns about underage drinking; coupling that with the fear of your child driving under the influence! MADD and Nationwide have joined forces and created powerful resource for parents. The Power of Parents. As parents we can hope that the values and morals we instilled in our children from the start will help them to recognize a bad decision when they see it. Unfortunately that's not always enough when they are naturally testing boundaries and their friends are coaxing them as well. It is important that parents stay in the know about all the ways to prevent underage drinking.

Nationwide on Power of Parents, It's Your Influence by MADD from MADD Online on Vimeo.

Of all the dangers your teen faces, underage drinking is among the worst. Whether teens are experimenting with beer, wine, or other liquor, alcohol presents a serious—and potentially deadly—threat. Compared with non-drinking classmates, teens who drink are more likely to: ^{source}

• Die in a car crash
• Get pregnant
• Flunk school
• Be sexually assaulted
• Become an alcoholic later in life
• Take their own life through suicide

If you have a teen I'm sure you've already taken steps and talked about these issues with them. But I encourage you to take that extra step and check out The Power of Parents for extra support and new research. Simple tips that really make an impact on your teen's decision making. Like discussing rules and consequences, communicating before a problem arises, and treating them with respect.

While you're there, be sure to take the Underage Alcohol Safety Quiz to see how at risk your teen is to underage drinking. And you'll find some interesting facts too!

While your angsty, curious, shy, sweet, perfect, hormonal teen might seem like they're not even listening to you - they do pay attention to your actions - And research shows that parents still have a big influence on their drinking decisions {75%!} So what are you waiting for? Check out PoP Get involved, learn something, challenge your parenting style, communicate with your kid, sit down to dinner together, and TALK.  Only good things will come from it...

You can show your support of 21 being the legal drinking age by taking this Support 21 "survey". And you can follow what's new with MADD's Power of Parents on Facebook, Twitter, and of course at www.thepowerofparents.org.

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.