<p>Serendipitously, this program is being offered at my D’s school today. This is a California program; other states may have similar programs. To address the larger problems of teen drinking and driving:</p>
<p>The Every 15 Minutes program is a two-day program focusing on high school juniors and seniors, which challenges them to think about drinking, driving, personal safety, the responsibility of making mature decisions and the impact their decisions have on family, friends, and many others.</p>
<p>Goals & Objectives</p>
<p>The program brings together a broad coalition of interested local agencies with the goal of reducing alcohol-related incidents among youth. The partnering of the California Highway Patrol, local law enforcement, local hospitals, emergency medical responders, schools, businesses, and service clubs validates the importance of working together to ensure a healthy community.</p>
<p>The two-day Every 15 Minutes program is very dramatic and emotional-and purposely so. Teenagers are constantly reminded about the choices they have to make involving alcohol and how many others are affected by their decisions. They know the intellectual statistics. However, many teens share the belief it will never happen to them.</p>
<p>Results & Impact</p>
<p>This powerful program is designed to create an awareness among students that they are not invincible. This program helps open the emotional doors, and it addresses a problem most teens do not know exists. They experience first hand how their actions affect the lives of so many other people.</p>
<p>Funding</p>
<p>With funding available from the California Office of Traffic Safety, the California Highway Patrol provides mini-grants</p>
<p>Ms. Ladybug- That is a HUGE stretch! People store liquor in the garage for lots of reasons. I know families who entertain a lot and keep a variety of liquor on hand. They may be only wine drinkers, but have all sorts of whiskey, vodka etc. for parties. I know H and I moved a particular bottle of Scotch around the country over a period of years that only existed because it is what my father drinks when he would come to visit.
All of a sudden the facebook picture of the teen with alcohol has led you to conclude that the parents are alcoholics who have a huge stash of liquor in the garage. Give me a break!!</p>
<p>MomOfWildChild: Notice I said Perhaps, If, Maybe, etc. I only suggest that that’s a possibility to consider. And if that is what’s going on, the girl (and her family) may benefit from being pointed in the direction of professional help. It’s not a far stretch at all: here’s a research link re: family patterns of alcohol:</p>
<p>“The number of American adults who abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent is about 17.6 million, or about 8.46% of the adult population (Grant, et al., 2004). Not only is this a primary health concern in itself, but it is additionally of concern because alcohol involvement has significant implications for child well-being and development. Approximately one out of every four U.S. children under the age of 18 years is exposed to the effects of alcohol abuse or dependence in a family member (Grant, 2000).”</p>
<p>I’m leaning toward doing nothing. I’m not really worried that this girl (lets call her Ann) is becoming an alcoholic, I know her pretty well and these pictures look like an attempt to show everyone how “cool” she is. Ann’s the kind of kid who is often overlooked, and I think she just decided to show everyone how <em>fun</em> she really is. She’s not a daredevil at all, I suspect she only drank one or at most 2 Mike’s at any of these events, and is just trying to break the goody-two-shoes image she used to have. Kind of a Sandy-at-the-end-of-Grease thing. I don’t think she’s stupid enough to drive after drinking, that would be too “risky” for her. </p>
<p>Her parents entertain a lot, which would explain the stash of Mike’s large enough for the girls to filch without being noticed. </p>
<p>What’s still got me upset, though, is the effect on the younger kids she mentors, and on the reputation of the organizations she’s in. It also bugs me that there are so many kids with pictures with alcohol on Facebook, and nothing ever gets done about it. Authorities and parents are constantly talking about teen drinking, especially when a tragedy occurs, but the kids think it’s all a big joke - and why shouldn’t they? They’re putting this stuff out there on the web and no one is doing anything about it! </p>
<p>Also, no matter how anonymously I did it, Ann would at least suspect it was D that was the leak. It would never occur to her that I or another parent might have seen these - after all, these kids think that privacy settings mean that only the people they WANT to see their profile can see it (very wishful thinking!). And if I wasn’t anonymous about it, I know it would come back on D. I know that the mature thing to do would be to speak to Ann’s mom, but I don’t know her that well and I wouldn’t trust her not to tell Ann who ratted her out.</p>
<p>There is a little part of me that wants to collect a LOT of photos - not just Ann, but the many photos I’ve seen of other parties with beer cans around and kids playing beer pong - and hand them ALL over to the advisor of these leadership groups. She keeps telling the kids they’ll get kicked out, but they never are. Like I said in previous posts, there are kids who have been in court for Minor in Possession and kids who have been taken by ambulance to the hospital for alcohol poisoning who are still in these groups and “mentoring” freshmen. Geez. Again, no wonder the kids think it’s all a big a joke.</p>
<p>The problem isn’t really Facebook, but a more pervasive one of the drinking culture among teenagers and young adults. I do share your frustration though. There has always been drinking, and I’m not sure this generation is any worse, but I do think it’s more pervasive than it used to be. There have always been heavy drinkers and alcoholics, but now, it’s like everyone is mimicking that kind of behavior. That’s what FB shows, really, that there’s some kind of cache about posting pictures of yourself passed out cold. What happened to shame?</p>
<p>My son recently “ratted on” two popular students who he saw stealing money and ipods from lockers. He did it even though he knew there would be potential social consequences. As he had previously had a large sum of money stolen (that he had to buy prom tickets) he felt it was more important to stop the thieves than of the social consequences.
I think we underestimate the consequences of teen drinking: drinking and driving, alcohol poisoning, drinking and prescription drug use.
I would find a way to let her parents know</p>
<p>Didn’t read the whole thread (I’m sure, great advice). But…if you wanted to alert the parents (or school guidance counselor, maybe?) without it coming back to you/your daughter, maybe you could create an anonymous email and mention something? I know this could probably be viewed as not being ‘upfront’ or honest…but if a girl is at risk for something bad happening because of her behavior…maybe it would be in her long-term best interest…</p>
<p>Well, now my hand is being forced. A parent group that I’m involved in is being asked to sponsor an anti-drinking event at the high school, and I just found out the h.s. wants to get the kids in these leadership groups to be very public about supporting it. I’m going to talk to a staff member asap and tell her I have major concerns that using some of these kids as a public face for this effort is going to backfire big-time, because of what I’ve seen on Facebook. I’m not going to name any names, though, although I will describe what’s out there. So far I’ve just told the teacher that I need to speak to her confidentially. UGH - wish me luck.</p>
<p>I spoke with the teacher, she is the advisor of a different group, not the leadership groups advisor. She said that she didn’t think the leadership advisor was aware that there are kids with the Minor in Possession charges in those groups or they’d have been removed from the groups. I did NOT give her any names, I thought it was common knowledge but I don’t have firsthand info so I didn’t think it was my place to tell her, and it happened last year. </p>
<p>As for the FB pics, she was very concerned with the message these pictures are giving to the younger students, especially the kids who are being mentored. She also felt it was a slap in the face to the leadership groups, especially since these kids signed a paper promising to abstain from alcohol and drugs as a condition for being in these leadership groups. She totally understood my fears of my D being targeted as the “snitch” and said if she could find these pictures herself and print them she’d be glad to take the rap. She’s not FB friends with any of the students, though, so she can’t see their profiles. She said she’d try to do some investigating from home.</p>
<p>I think that’s all I’m going to do for now.</p>
<p>My daughter and her friends all thought that colleges might see their facebook pages during the college application process and that now that they are in college, that potential employers for internships etc., might see the facebook pages. Their pages are full of silliness but nothing overtly illegal. Which is good.</p>
<p>I think all kids should PRETEND that their parents had access to their Facebook account and should only post things on the account that would pass the Mom and Dad muster.</p>