We all make mistakes, it’s human nature to sometimes pick the worst decision available to us. That haircut in seventh grade? Best burn the pictures still hanging around in Mom’s and Dad’s basement. The blind date set up for Friday night? It might be better to take a raincheck and spend the evening with Ben and Jerry.
One mistake, on the other hand, made by many young people these days should not be brushed aside so easily — underaged drinking.
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe made sure it wasn’t last Tuesday. The numbers of teenagers who try alcohol before they turn 21 have reached astronomical numbers in today’s society; kids are drinking earlier in their young lives, and it is a problem in every community across the nation.
Instead of sweeping the problem under the carpet, tribal officials confronted it head on, bringing in four speakers to present their very different sides to the issue. And the community responded to those efforts, with about 100 people showing up to support stopping underaged drinking.
Not all of them were teenagers, either, as the tribe encouraged parents and adults in the community to attend as well. They are the first line of defense in preventing students from drinking, and tribal officials are reaching out to them to set good examples and have discussions about alcohol use.
Parents, talk to your children, early and often about the decision to drink. Make it clear to your kids that they can come to you when faced with peer pressure or the need to try alcohol. In an ideal world, these discussions wouldn’t be awkward, uncomfortable or even necessary. Energy put into the meeting last week would be applied elsewhere.
But this isn’t an ideal world.
Students, teenagers and children need guidence and someone they can turn to when, inevitably, they are faced with the decision to drink or not to drink.
The four speakers — Miss Washington 2006 Kristen Eddings, Native American motivational speaker Chance Rush, Washington State Liquor Control Board alcohol awareness program manager Tony Masias and Washington State Patrol Trooper Brian George — all talked on the different aspects of teen drinking and the ramifications such a decision can have.
Though many of the students at the gathering whispered, moved around and even got up and left a couple times during the two-hour presentation, it was obvious the words were having an effect. Rush especially was able to reach out to some of the more stubborn youth with his funny stories about growing up on a reservation, fatherhood and living sober.
Mistakes are unavoidable, some can even be laughed at later in life once the humiliation or pain has faded. But the mistake to drink before turning 21, to be put in the unhappy situation of drinking or losing friends, drinking or looking uncool, is not one our students should have to cope with on their own.
The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe showed its support for its young people and continues to do so through a prevention program with help from a Strategic Prevention Framework-State Incentive grant. Parents and teachers may not have access to such funds, but their words can be infinitely more powerful.
Talk to your kids, students, teenagers about the ramifications of drinking as a minor. Start the discussions early. Make it clear that if they get stuck between the rock of peer pressure and a hard place, they can turn to you for help and guidance.
