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.

Your shopping at a teen store, you need a flask, right?

Received a media call today from an outlet requesting comment about bedazzled flasks being sold at retail outlet aimed at older teens. I wasn't too surprised given we've received these calls quite a lot over the years, especially prior to prom and graduation. It's not bad enough that thousands of people are impacted by underage drinking each year and that it is illegal, but somehow making flasks available to those young teen girls hovering in the late teens and pre-21 range, seems like a good thing? Unfortunately, across America, flasks, shot glasses, shirts, and the like are marketing to youth. Enough already.

Who Provides the Alcohol?

Now, this is a strange one. Or maybe not. High profile, community leader, commissioned with protecting everyone is charged with providing alcohol to those under 21 years old.

It is so important to know who, what, when when your teens are involved. Who are they with? What are they doing? When will they be home? If they live on college campuses, checking in on them is a good reminder you care. If something seems amiss, it probably is.