Thanks to Linda Thomas, Seattle area “News Chick”, for this important website: http://www.underagedrinking.samhsa.gov/talk-early.aspx 

Did you know that:

Between the ages of 9 and 13, children start to think differently about alcohol. Many children begin to think underage drinking is OK and some even start to experiment. It’s never too early to talk to your children about alcohol, and encourage them to talk with you.¹

Over 70% of children say parents are the leading influence in their decision to drink or not.”

Check out this site, sign their petition, and start talking to your kids about underage drinking!

Acouple weeks ago there was a Law and Order: SVU marathon on USA TV Network. I was sacked out on the sofa after an early morning meeting followed by teaching a class.

I was particularly captivated by the episode entitled, “Responsible.” (I looked it up - it’s episode 18 in season 8). Here’s the synopsis:

After a young girl is found dead in the apartment of a vacationing couple with no children, Stabler and Benson (Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay) soon learn that there have been a number of high school students having floating parties, going from house to house and getting drunk. Unfortunately, charging any of the teens with murder proves problematic, but the detectives get a break when they learn that one of the teen’s mothers had been providing the alcohol as well as sleeping with one of the students.  (Full Recap here)

What struck me was how easy it would be to watch this episode with your teen and either have a discussion or just insert commentary about your values while watching or during commercials. There were several times when I inadvertently found myself commenting, gasping, or just sitting with my mouth open in shock.

It doesn’t have to be planned out; your sincere, spontaneous reaction (even tears!) goes a long way to impress your values onto your teens. (”Oh, that’s so sad.” “I hope that mother gets charged.” “How disgusting.” “OMG, they’re spoiled.” etc.) You don’t have to say “this is my value” for teens to pick up on what your values are!

Granted, we can’t control them, but we can’t be afraid to share our values just because we think that they’ll be ignored. The truth is that teens rely on their parent’s values more than on their friend’s values, WHEN THEY HAVE A SENSE OF WHAT THOSE VALUES ARE.

If we don’t talk about our values, there won’t be any family values for our children to refer to and rely on!

You can watch this episode and others online or by renting from a video store or Netflix.com