It’s Family Day: have dinner with your kids

Monday, September 28 has been designated Family Day 2009 to remind parents that frequent family dinners can make a big difference in their children’s lives.

For over a decade, research by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) has shown that kids who have dinner more often with their families are less likely to drink, smoke and use drugs.

With so many activities crowding out family time these days, it’s time for parents to become more engaged in their kids’ lives. Dinner would seem to be an easy way to do just that.

Research findings are dramatic. In addition to reducing teen cigarette use, drinking and drug use, studies show that kids who regularly participate in family dinner even get better grades in school.

Read more about Family Day and the importance of family dinners in this Join Together announcement.

http://www.jointogether.org/news/yourturn/announcements/2009/teens-who-eat-dinners.html

What about parental responsibility?

A recent national study commissioned by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America reports that fewer parents than ever are talking with their teens about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

According to the 2006 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study: “Only half of parents, 54 percent, reported thoroughly discussing the use of drugs like heroin, cocaine and crack with their kids. Even more concerning is that a mere 36 percent of parents reported having in-depth conversations about abuse of prescription medications and only 33 percent have thoroughly discussed abuse of OTC cough and cold medicines with their teens.”

Teens today are at high risk to abuse the drugs they find right at home, in the medicine cabinet. And even scarier, parents are aware of the problem!

What is the answer? This isn’t just the schools’ problem. Education about the risks and dangers of abusing alcohol and drugs starts at home and parents need to take that responsibility seriously.

Of course, there are those of us who tried talking with our kids but they chose that road anyway.

So what's the solution? Anyone out there have an opinion on how to reduce the number of teens who start abusing alcohol and drugs they find at home?


http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/DrugIssue/Research/parent_teen_discussions/Parent_Teen_Discussions_About_Drugs_and_Alcohol

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