Connect: Spend time with your kids:
eat meals together.
Activities you can do with your kids to Connect
Research Says . . .
Research has clearly demonstrated the benefits of eating meals together as a family. One recent study that targeted over 1,600 middle school students and over 3,000 high school students found that teenagers living in families who routinely shared meals together . . .
- were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, and use marijuana;
- tenían una menor posibilidad de fumar, consumir alcohol y consumir marihuana;
- received higher grade point averages
Makes you want to rush into the kitchen and set the table doesn’t it? You can do this! Be a Can Do Parent and put family mealtimes on the menu.
Activities to Connect
“Correlations Between Family Meals and Psychosocial Well-being Among Adolescents” Marla Eisenberg, Rachel Olson, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Mary Story, Linda Bearinger, Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Volume 158, Issue 8, 2004, pp. 792-796.
Communicate: Talk with your kids about
the danger of tobacco,
alcohol and drugs.
Tips and Activities to Communicate
Research Says . . .
Parents and grandparents: you make a big difference! Parent-child talk about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use such as marijuana and inhalants makes a significant difference in the lives of young people. Kids who learn anti-drug messages from their parents and grandparents in the home are up to 50 percent less likely to use drugs than those kids who don’t learn anything from their parents or grandparents.
Activities and Tips to Communicate
* Partnership Attitude Tracking Study —Parents. Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 2003.
Check: Monitor where your
kids hang out and who
their friends are.
Tips on how to Check
Research Says . . .
Parental monitoring of pre-teen and teen behavior has been found to significantly lower kids’ chances of using alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs like marijuana. Research has demonstrated that parental knowledge of children’s whereabouts, activities, and friendships is a key parenting strategy.
Check Tips and Activites
* “Parental and Peer Influences on the Risk of Adolescent Drug Use.” Stephen Bahr, John Hoffmann, and Ziaoyan Yang, The Journal of Primary Prevention, Volume 26, Issue 5, November 2005, pp. 529-551.
