WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Parents can feel out of touch with teen culture. But getting smarter about their teen's world can make parents more effective in reducing youth drug use.
Parent Chronicles, a new initiative from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, encourages parents to close the gap between them and their teens by sharing experiences with each other and their kids. Research shows parents could use the help. Consider the following:
-- Eighty percent of parents believe that alcohol and marijuana are
usually not available at parties their teens attend. In reality,
50 percent of teen partygoers attend parties where alcohol, drugs, or
both are available.
-- Only 27 percent of parents think their kids may have been offered
drugs, yet 45 percent of teens report having been offered drugs.
"We are asking parents to better understand the kind of things that teens do and see, and the types of influences and images that they encounter," said Scott Burns, Deputy Director, National Drug Control Policy. "If, for example, parents believe that because they know how to use the Internet, they understand their teens' experience online, or because they talk on a cell phone, they understand how teens use these devices to communicate with each other, they are sadly mistaken. Parents need to involve themselves in their teen's world to narrow this new kind of the generation gap."
To illustrate the disconnect that experts are seeing across the country, the Media Campaign created a video of four real families, in which all of the parents said they had a close relationship with their teens. (Video available at http://www.theantidrug.com/ParentChronicles).
"In the video, a teen tells us how to roll a blunt of marijuana, while her mother admits that she doesn't even know what a blunt is," said Alison Birnbaum, licensed social worker and parenting expert. "When Mom becomes knowledgeable, it will raise her credibility with her daughter. She will be more likely to ask the right questions and more effective at making the right rules. Being 'in the know' helps parents accomplish the two tasks of good parenting: making a connection to their teen and keeping their teen safe."
The Media Campaign's Web site for parents, http://www.theantidrug.com/, recommends activities for parents and a parent-to-parent forum where participants can chronicle their experiences and share thoughts with other parents. The Parent Chronicles section also includes expert advice, tips for parents, and an assessment quiz on teen pop culture.
Beginning today, the Media Campaign is running an advertising insert in USA Today and an Open Letter ad to parents in newspapers and magazines nationwide. Titled "Do You Speak Teen?" these ads feature an image of a cell phone screen with a text message in typical teen lingo that parents might not understand. Eight health, parenting, and media education organizations signed the Open Letter: The Advertising Council, American Academy of Pediatrics, Cable in the Classroom, Common Sense Media, Parents Television Council, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, PTA, and SADD.
The USA Today insert is co-branded with new Campaign corporate partner AT&T Inc., which is encouraging parents to stay more closely connected to their teens through technology. AT&T will distribute additional copies of the insert to consumers and include messages in a safety-themed direct mail piece; on bills for millions of wireless subscribers; in an e-newsletter; and on its Web site. AT&T will also make the Campaign's parenting resources available to its employee base.
"With the wide array of communications technology available today, it is important for parents to understand and use the tools their kids do to stay in touch, and set sensible boundaries," said David Christopher, Chief Marketing Officer, AT&T Mobility. "Whether their children are talking on the cell phone, sending text messages, or downloading content, parents can help keep them safe and avoid potential risky behaviors by staying informed."
Since its inception in 1998, the ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has conducted outreach to millions of parents and teens and hundreds of communities to prevent and reduce teen drug use. Counting on an unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, non-profit community service organizations, volunteerism and youth-to-youth communications, the Campaign is designed to reach Americans of diverse backgrounds with effective anti-drug messages.
For more information on the ONDCP National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, visit http://www.mediacampaign.org/
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
