Parents: The New Audience

Posted on Jul 19, 2012 in News, Newsletter by emhamilton 0 Comments

Parents: The New Audience

 The teen years present some of our greatest parenting challenges. As our children become more independent, they face temptations and dangers that can affect their health and safety, like alcohol and other drugs. For this reason, the BNCCC is reaching out to parents with a new campaign, BN Parents.  

As a part of the campaign, you will see billboards and advertisements encouraging parents to talk to their teens about alcohol. The advertisements carry the tagline, “You DO make a difference!” To support this message, the website www.BNParents.org has been developed to assist parents in guiding and “coaching” their teens to make the best decisions about alcohol use.  Research indicates 83% of youth ages 10-18 years old cite parents as the leading influence in their decision to not drink at all, or not to drink on occasion.

BNParents Billboard

Why parents of high school students? The 2010 Illinois Youth Survey indicates Bloomington-Normal 12^th graders are using alcohol at the following rates:

• 63% have consumed in the past year (indicates may have tried it once or twice).
• 37% report drinking in the last 30 days (tends to indicate regular use).
• 25% report binge drinking (4 or more drinks per occasion for females and 5 or more drinks per occasion for males) in the past 2 weeks. **

**Youth who binge drink are far more likely to experience negative consequences such as driving under the influence, car accidents, unprotected sex, fights, physical injuries, sexual assaults, and many other concerns.

The Illinois Youth Survey also tells us:

• 33% of 10^th and 12^th graders in Bloomington-Normal report they would never be caught by their parents if they drank.
• 78% of Bloomington-Normal high school seniors and 64% of sophomores report it would be easy to get alcohol.

Parents can immediately impact use in our community by:

1. Having a two-way conversation with their teen. This helps parents know what is going on, keeps the doors of communication open and allows parents to share their expectations.
2. Limiting youth access to alcohol. As the website explains, parents can assist with this by:
• Refusing to give or sell alcohol to their children. 
• Checking in with their teen before and after they go out. 
• Locking up alcohol and monitoring quantity. 
• Staying home when their child hosts a party.
• Talking to other parents about not having alcohol at parties your child is attending.
• Planning activities in their home that are alcohol-free.
3. Reporting underage drinking to the police.  If parents know of a party coming up, we recommend they contact their local law enforcement agency with the name, address, and date of the party.  This can be done anonymously and names will be kept confidential.

For more information on the campaign, look under the parent section of our website or go directly to www.BNParents.org.