Middle Schoolers and Alcohol

Many of us may think that alcohol use and abuse is a problem for high school and college student. But, in fact, drinking (and subsequent substance abuse and problems) can start earlier - as early as fourth grade. A study of adolescent drinking data published in the September 2007 issue of Prevention Science, cited one national survey in which 6.9% of fourth graders, and 12.9% of sixth graders reported alcohol use during the past 12 months. Another study found that 11% of 6th graders reported binge drinking (5 or more drinks at one time for boys, 4 for girls, in the past two weeks).

Local survey results confirm these statistics. In 2007, a day long summit with 130 seventh and eighth graders from Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley School Districts revealed that drugs, alcohol and huffing was the third ranked concern of St. Vrain Valley middle school students (Voices and Views, Theme Report for the St. Vrain Valley and Boulder Valley School Districts Middle School Youth Summits) and 23.4% of St. Vrain Valley high school students reporting using alcohol before the age of 13 in the 2007 Boulder County Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Early initiation of tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use is associated with a greater likelihood of addiction. The use of tobacco and alcohol at a young age is also known to increase the risk for other drug use. Delaying initial use of these substances can positively impact eventual addiction and use rates. It is evident that conversations between parents and youth about alcohol use need to begin early . . . perhaps as early as fourth grade.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which is developing a week-long online "The Science inside Alcohol" curriculum for middle school students has these five steps parents can take to talk with their kids about alcohol:

• Find teachable moments. We live in a culture of celebrity. If a celebrity your child admires admits to a drinking problem, or an instance of alcohol abuse occurs in your community, talk about it. Ask your middle-school student if he or she knows anyone who drinks alcohol and whether it is at parties or has been brought into their school. Answer questions. Have this conversation often.
• Talk to your kids when everything is fine. Middle school students are volatile, hormonal beings. They are sweet and wonderful one moment, and blow up the next. Pick a time when things are quiet and they're a captive audience such as in the backseat of your car. Don't take no for an answer.
• Engage your kids in the science of alcohol. Adolescents are incredibly self-involved. Alcohol can cause memory loss, impair sports performance, incite embarrassing behavior and affect how they feel and look. Make them aware of these facts. If there is a history of alcoholism in your family, explain about genetic predispositions towards alcohol abuse.
• Be vigilant. There's no alternative to monitoring your kids. Have an early curfew. Know where they are at all times. Even if you are not home on a weeknight, make sure you can reach your kids by phone. Get to know their new friends and their parents. Find out what their rules and level of engagement are.
• Learn to trust your child. Now's the time when all the work you've put into creating a value system for your child begins to pay off. Set limits and enforce rules, but remember to give your child room to make his or her decisions, within your comfort zone. Praise them when they do well. It's worth a thousand words. (From Middle-Schoolers and Alcohol: Tips for Parents from The Science Inside Alcohol Project at AAAS)

Don't Ignore the Signs. Take Early Action.

You know teenagers use drugs. You know drugs are dangerous and deadly. You know you don't want your teen to use drugs. But do you know what to do if you suspect your teen is using drugs?

What do you do if you notice the following signs or symptoms?

• Changes in friends
• Negative changes in schoolwork, missing school, or declining grades
• Increased secrecy about possessions or activities
• Use of incense, room deodorant, or perfume to hide smoke or chemical odors
• Subtle changes in conversations with friends, e.g. more secretive, using “coded” language
• Change in clothing choices: new fascination with clothes that highlight drug use
• Increase in borrowing money
• Evidence of drug paraphernalia such as pipes, rolling papers, etc.
• Evidence of use of inhalant products (such as hairspray, nail polish, correction fluid, common household products); Rags and paper bags are sometimes used as accessories
• Bottles of eye drops, which may be used to mask bloodshot eyes or dilated pupils
• New use of mouthwash or breath mints to cover up the smell of alcohol
• Missing prescription drugs—especially narcotics and mood stabilizers

Discovering drugs or drug paraphernalia (or what you suspect is drugs) in your teens' belongings can be a scary and overwhelming situation. Don't ignore the signs. Don't hope your teen will stop using on his or her own. There are many, many resources available to you. Take early action.

An excellent website to start at is Parents: The Anti-Drug, which provides drug information, news, advice, resources and steps to take if you suspect your teen is using drugs or alcohol. The website even has sample dialogues to give you an idea of what to say to your teen.

Also check out Love First: Intervention for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction for advice on how to intervene if someone you know has a substance addiction.

If you discover in talking with your teen that you need to find help, call the Parents: The Anti-Drug phone number at 1-800-662-HELP or search the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator. You can also call Boulder County's Addiction Recovery Division at 303-441-1275.

Helping your teen navigate drugs and alcohol and to stop abusing them is a scary time . . . but there are resources and support for you. Don't ignore the signs. Take early action.

Showing Love in Tough Economic Times

Recently, our Executive Director was talking to a school principal, and the principal mentioned that he often sees students acting out because of the lack of love shown them at home. In tough economic times as we are in today, the situation gets worse as parents work more and longer hours or are too stressed out to give children attention. The great thing about loving our children is that affection and appreciation can be shown in so many ways - small actions can mean a lot and you don't have to spend any money! Here are some top ways to show your kids a little love during a busy week:

• If you both have cell phones, send periodic text messages such as "Thinking about U. I hope U R having a good day. Love U!" or "Just want you to know how much I love and appreciate U! You are incredible!"
• Pick up an inexpensive card or send a free e-card through Hallmark, 123 Greetings or other websites that offer them.
• When you do have time together, focus on your child - smile, acknowledge them, look in their eyes, take five minutes to ask and listen about their day.
• Celebrate their birthday in whatever fashion you can afford whether it's a family party, a party for friends, a doughnut with a candle and a favorite meal, taking your child and a friend to a matinee movie . . . the possibilities are endless as long as they focus on your child and what he or she loves.
• If you can't have dinner every night together, find one night during the week to have a family dinner or schedule another meal (breakfast, brunch, lunch) to sit and eat together.
• Build something together - a small project at home or participate in a free workshop day at Lowe's or Home Depot.
• Find a book or free magazine (Longmont library puts out free magazines for the taking under the stairs and behind the model train) or music with your child (what does your child have on his iPod or on her favorite CD) to share together.
• Take just seconds to tell your child you love them in words and with hugs- before leaving the house, dropping them off at school, when you get home, before bed. Never assume that your kids know how much you love them (especially when life is stressful!).
• Do a family activity together that you and your kids plan together. Don't let money be an obstacle - there are lots of free things to do in the area. Check out Upcoming Free Events and Longmont Mom blog. and the
• Be available whenever and wherever your kids want to talk. If you're in the middle of something, arrange a time to talk soon.
  
• Play together - it will help you relieve stress and show your child how much you love them. Don't know what or how to play? Let your child take the lead.
  
• Spend time with your kids individually and try to make this a daily event - 10 minutes after school, half-hour in the evening, an hour on Saturday morning.
• Be your child's biggest fan - see if you can have time to go to a school event or sports competition.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. There are so many small and meaningful ways to show your kids you love them and so many ways to fit them into a busy life. You can do it! What your kids really want is you; and the time you invest in your kids is so important to them and will payoff in the future if and when your kids have to make tough decisions about friends, school, alcohol, drugs, sex and being safe.

Free Afterschool Program

Do you have a child at Columbine Elementary School, Rocky Mountain Elementary School, Heritage Middle School or Longs Peak Middle School in Longmont? Could your child use extra help after school with homework? Alternatives for Youth holds afterschool Homework Clubs at these four schools, which are free and open to any attending student who can use assistance with completing homework, learning organizational skills, and having fun with other kids and caring adults. For more information, contact Mary Vigil at 303-776-8184.

No "Kid"ding . . . High School Graduation and Drop Out Crisis

Did You Know? The United States' high school graduation and drop out crisis has been a hot topic in the news for the last few years. Did you know:

• Every 26 seconds, a student drops out of high school in America, adding up to 7,000 students per school day and 1.1 million students per year.
• About 15% of the nation's high schools produce close to half its dropouts.
• The St. Vrain Valley School District graduation rate for the class of 2007 was 80.4% for all students (compared to 70% in the U.S., 75% in Colorado and 88.1% in Boulder Valley School District) and 56.5% for Hispanic students.
• Poverty is the fundamental driver of low graduation rates; and behavioral factors, such as poor attendance, behavior, effort and course failure, not demographic factors, are strong predictors of dropout outcome.
• For those young people who don't graduate from high school, future prospects are dim. School disengagement may often precede teenage pregnancy and delinquency.
• Dropping out of school doesn't happen overnight. It is the final outcome of a process that often begins at age 11 or 12.
• Many students begin to fall off the graduation track at the start of adolescence such that 40-50% of eventual dropouts can be identified in 6th grade and 75% by 9th grade by looking at attendance, behavior, and course failure in math and English.
• Students with any one of these risk factors have less than a 20% chance of graduating within five years of entering ninth grade.
• Students who enter high school two or more years behind grade level in math and literacy have only a 50/50 chance of on-time promotion to the 10th.
• Ninth grade retention is a major risk factor for dropping out of high school.
• Early intervention is critical as is whole school reform that is comprehensive, systematic, and sustained and addresses attendance, behavior and course failure. America's Promise Alliance has found that children who receive at least four of the Five Promises - caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education, and opportunities to help others - are much more likely than those who experience only one or zero Promises to succeed academically, socially and civically.
• AFY works to provide at-risk youth with caring adults, safe places, effective education and opportunities to help others in our efforts to help youth succeed in school and life.
  

For more information, check out the following websites:
America's Promise Alliance
Colorado Department of Education
EPE Research Center
The Graduation Gap
National Education Association
National Dropout Prevention Centers

Upcoming Free Events

I am always looking for fun, free things to do with my family, and the Front Range has no shortage of them. In the coming weeks, especially during the fall TV Turnoff Week September 21-27, consider doing some of the following:

• Saturday, September 20: 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., stop by and say hello to Alternatives for Youth and the Next Step staff at a Drop and Shop Rummage Sale, 2130 Mountain View Avenue, Longmont. FREE (unless you find something really cool to buy!)
  
• Saturday, September 20: 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Attend the LiveWell Longmont Wellness Expo at the St. Vrain Memorial Building, 700 Longs Peak Avenue, Longmont. FREE
  
• Wednesday, September 24: 6:00-8:00 p.m. attend a Latino Parent Involvement in Education meeting at Heritage Middle School. Childcare, dinner and translation provided. FREE
• Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10:15 and 11:00 a.m. storytime for infants through preschoolers at the Longmont Library. Evening, Spanish and Dogs Enjoy Reading storytimes also available. Check out Library Storytimes and Events. FREE
• Saturday, October 4: 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. the Denver Art Museum is free for the first Saturday free program. Children under 5 are always free and the museum features free things for kids to do. FREE
• Tuesday, October 7: 4:00-8:00 p.m., check out all the fun stuff at Children's Museum of Denver during their free first Tuesday evening. FREE
• Things that are always free and fun: the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, Longmont Parks, taking a walk or bike ride on the St. Vrain Greenway, and the Longmont Farmers Market (through October 27).
  

No "Kid"ding . . . Teens and the Internet

Did You Know? Computers and the Internet are incredible, modern day tools that have revolutionalized our lives and how we work, play and learn. They are more and more readily available and used by young people even as the Internet and how our youth use it pose various threats. Did you know:

• American teens are more wired now than ever before. According to a recent survey, 93% of all Americans age 12-17 use the internet. In 2004, 87% were internet users, and in 2000, 73% of teens went online.
• 65% of high school students admit to unsafe, inappropriate, or illegal activities online.
• Risks to children, particularly teenagers, in cyberspace include exposure to unwanted contact with sexual material (1 in 3 youth) and harassment (1 in 11 youth).
• In a survey conducted by the Intelligence Group, Dateline questioned 500 teenagers across the country, ages 14-18, about their computer habit. When asked if someone they've met online has wanted to meet them in person, 58% said "yes" and 29% said they've had a "scary" experience online.
• 30% of teenage girls polled by the Girl Scout Research Institute said they had been sexually harassed in a chatroom. Only 7%, however, told their mothers or fathers about the harassment because they were worried that their parents would ban them from going online.
• Just as parents are key to teaching kids about "stranger danger," parents are key to protecting kids while they are online. Some simple things you can do include: focus on the children's behavior rather than the technology; be aware of what children are doing online and to whom they are talking; keep the computer in a family area; stay engaged as children get older; and help teenagers learn how to keep themselves safe.

For more information, check out the following websites and articles:

Enough is Enough

Keep Your Kids Safe Online

Tips to Keep Children Safe Online

Largest List of Chat Acronyms and Text Message Shorthand

(Statistics from Enough is Enough, www.enough. org).

September 13, Longmont's Dieciseis de Septiembre Celebration

On September 13, Longmont will celebrate Mexican Independence Day or Dieciséis de Septiembre. The celebration dates from September 16, 1810, when Miguel Hidalgo, a parish priest, gave the Grito de Dolores or call for the independence of Mexico. "Grito de Dolores," a pun in Spanish means both "The Shout from [the town of] Dolores" and "The Cry of Sorrows," signifying the sorrows that Spain’s rule caused Mexico.

Everyone is invited to join in the Dieciseis de Septiembre Celebration on Saturday, September 13, 12:00-5:00 p.m. at Kensington Park. The family-friendly celebration, sponsored by Alternatives for Youth, El Comite and Longmont Youth Center, will include food, information and vendor booths as well as local performers. For more information call 303-776-8184.

September 22, Family Day

September 22 is 2008 Family Day - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children. Family Day is a national movement to inform parents that the parental engagement fostered during frequent family dinners is an effective tool to help keep America's kids substance free. It's a day to remind parents that frequent family dinners make a difference.

More than a decade of research has consistently found that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs. So why not have dinner - it doesn't matter what you eat - with your family on September 22!For more information and tips and recipes for a special dinner, visit the Family Day website.