Please call me if my college kid drinks

A recent article in The Washington Post highlights the need for parents to better understand what is going on with their adult-aged children in college. Underage drinking and parties seem par for the course for many college kids, but if they are under 21, they are not suppose to be drinking according to the law. Rather than look the other way, colleges see where problems continue to lurk when underage drinking runs rampant: bad grades, sexual assaults, injuries, etc. Now, many colleges will tell parents what their teens are up to in order for the parents to join forces with them to protect the youth. I suppose the adage, "you can run but you can't hide" comes to mind and teens should take note. I know I'd want my teen's college to call me if they were drinking. Sounds like a perfect bonding time conversation. Ideally, parents would heed the advice while teens are high school and check out www.thepowerofparents.org and get a jumpstart on setting the rules early for their kids.