Summer time … remember those teenage years: sleep in late, work part time, have fun with your peers? As a parent, it may be the hardest time to keep track of your teenager, because they have so much more free time than during the structured school year. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, June and July are the peak months for teen drinking and drug use.
What can parents/caregivers do to help curb this increased use or experimentation with substances?
Some tips, with help from Your Teen online magazine:
Set ground rules and consequences for breaking those rules.
Create structure, don’t let the summer be a free for all.
Monitor and check in with your teen often.
Be aware of what you are modeling. Teens pay attention to what their caregivers do.
Talk about binge drinking and dehydration.
I’ve gotten a lot of good advice over the years about parenting, and I think the best I ever got was this:
As your children enter their teen years, tighten the reins, don’t loosen them. It’s a lot harder to tighten reins on your kids once you have loosened them. Kids desire structure and boundaries, even though they don’t act like they do.
I recently watched a parenting blogger’s video about when is it appropriate to become friends with your child: The Blogger’s take … A parent’s #1 job is to love their kids, not be their buddy. “Until the child is an adult, I am not their friend. We are not on the playing field, I’m the authority. My child’s well-being is more important than my child’s opinion of me.” “and if they are mad at me….the reason they’re mad at me is because I am parenting.”
Enjoy your summer, but please stay safe, and keep your children safe and substance free!
If you are interested in signing up for an online parent education tool list serve, please email me at suzhal1@gpsk12.org
Suzie Hale
Safe Schools Safe Streets
Parent Liaison
Greenfield High School