posted
I have known lots of people that were a lot more fun to be around when they were drunk/stoned.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Tell them the TRUTH above all else. When I was young I was told that pot will turn you into a homeless slob with crusty pants and no future. When I was actually exposed to pot later in life and found this to be untrue I assumed other things I'd learned about drugs were untrue. This lead to bad things.
Posts: 58 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
There's another kink in communicating with older kids as well. Our last president was someone who tried something illegal but "didn't inhale," a quote that became very popular with people who just didn't like him in general.
Older kids who check our current president's bio will find out he was an abuser of alcohol for many years, and refuses to answer questions about other drugs.
It complicates the message - and it's not really Bush's fault, since it's a common story. People do abuse alcohol and other stuff and then move on.
So what do you tell older kids?
"If you abuse alcohol, you'll only get to be a governor or president if you quit drinking."
"If you keep abusing alcohol or other stuff, the most you can hope for is a seat in Congress." Posts: 4344 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Interestingly enough, people who are poor get addicted easier, and find quitting harder than people who are rich. This is a demonstrated and significant effect. It seems the same also applies to social status in monkeys. The experiment was done with cocaine. The monkeys at the top of the pecking order would do sometimes as much cocaine as those on the bottom, but when it was taken away, the alpha males didn't have any noticable withdrawl, whereas the lower ones showed signs of significant withdrawl.
Posts: 1769 | Registered: Feb 2000
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It's just a correlation. Of course some poor people can use drugs and not be raging addicts and some rich people can get out of control. If you search the Economist science and technology section, the article was about a year back. That's where I read about the studies at least.
Posts: 1769 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Interesting article. What if there were *no* anti-drug initiatives at schools and people were able to decide on their own what drugs to take and when? Or, what if rather than push an agenda, educators simply assigned people to do their own research and let students argue with each other?
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
That would not work, because some students might decide that the demon weed sounds fun and not particularly dangerous. Perhaps if we had different laws, but currently there is no way the government is going to support an open dialogue on drugs. Especially an open dialogue with kids; they have to be indoctrinated young.
Posts: 281 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Make sure you mention the financial costs of drugs. I know somebody who worked all the way through high school part time. He probably made $5000 total, but by the end he had nothing to show for it because he smoked so much weed.
Also, another friend who was trying to save up for a trip to Europe next summer probably won't be able to go because she spent several hundred dollars on marijuana.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
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Also, don't mention just the extreme cases of addicts whose entire lives are centered around drugs. Talk about how some people use alcohol and other drugs recreationally and eventually quit, but really all they have to show for it is a much emptier wallet and maybe a couple memories of fun times at parties.
Never imply that everybody who does drugs will end up a hobo, because kids will see that it is obviously not true. You need to be honest with them, and impress on them how nice it is to be happy with yourself without any chemical help and how nice it is to be able to solve your problems/depression/whatever without getting messed up.
Also, this has already been mentioned, but stress how they can turn down using drugs when their friends offer and not be judged for it, and how important it is to not pressure other people into doing something they feel uncomfortable about.
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
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One of the big problems with DARE is that once kids get a little older they begin to see how manipulative and false so many of its messages are. I remember thinking it was especially ironic for some stuffed shirt to ramble off messages about the evils of drugs, and then go smoke a cigarette. That brings up the TRUTH campaign for tobacco use. What a horrible, manipulative, dishonest campaign that it. I don't smoke, but every TRUTH add I see makes me want to light up in defiance of the brainwashing propaghanda.
For those of you that think Requiem for a Dream is an anti-drug movie, you missed the point. I think it is not really a good movie to show people that you want to indoctrinate with the idea that illegal drugs are bad. One of the points of RfaDm (At least according to the DVD commentary,) is that addiction is not limited to "illicit" drugs. RfaD attempting to expose the lie that DARE promotes, that some addictive substances are okay, while others are bad.
Another problem with early drug education programs is that the kids become desensitized to it. Hearing "just say no" ad infinitum, causes the message to go in one ear and out the other. I know in the Marine Corps I have had so many DUI briefs that by the 20th time I see some mom tell me about how she lost her honor student angel daughter, I really don't care.
quote:Also, this has already been mentioned, but stress how they can turn down using drugs when their friends offer and not be judged for it, and how important it is to not pressure other people into doing something they feel uncomfortable about.
What dream world are you living in? This is not the social dynamic of an acdemic instituion, and it's not likely it ever will be. Messages like this just reinforce the idea in a child's mind that the speaker is clueless.
I think honesty is the best approach with anti-drug campaigns. The most intelligent and effective anti-drug campaigns I have expierenced were almost all matter of fact and explained the benefits as well as drawbacks to each drug. (Things like explaining pacifier use and dehydration issues with X users.) These briefs were also all about "club" drugs such as X, Special K, MDMA, etc.
quote: I remember thinking it was especially ironic for some stuffed shirt to ramble off messages about the evils of drugs, and then go smoke a cigarette.
Last year my daughters DARE program included cigarettes and any form of tobacco in the drug category.
Yes, hypocrisy runs deep. To me the advantage of children getting publicly educated on these things, far out weighs the hypocrisy of those spreading the message. They’ll be able to sort these matters out for themselves when they're older, as you have done.
I agree, honesty is always the best policy when teaching a child.
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Was I really that much of a dork in high school?
No one ever offered me any drugs whatsoever, except when I was a Governor's Scholar at NKU, and I was offered a cigarette. Perhaps I was lucky that so many of my father's family smoked and I found it disgusting; my doctors later told me I was especially vulnerable and my throat would probably have swollen up and choked me to death.
The closest I ever got was rumors of pot smoking in the bathroom.
Posts: 1114 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote: This is why DARE backfires--ceterus paribus, it appears DARE graduates are more likely to have drug problems. DARE has itself admitted this and is looking for a solution; ask me if you want research.
Good grief, I love Hatrack. Thanks to Chaeron and Mrs.M for the links to back this up -- when I started reading the thread, I was figuring that this wouldn't be clarified.
Chaeron's whole post was superb, and there are a lot of good ideas brough up on the thread. I just wanted add one note.
quote:Tell kids how the alcohol and tobacco industries target them, because they know that the young'uns get addicted faster and easier, and they need to replace their older patrons, who have a habit of dying.
Young people have a deep and burning sense of fairness, and they hate being used or treated like idiots. Even at the upper levels of gradeschool age, you can tap into this by teaching them to be critical about advertising, by talking about the techniques of selling. This applies to both legal and illegal drugs.
You can start with simple stuff (a'la Chris Bridges' latest article) like "why are things always $9.95 or $199.95? What is the gimmick?" and "what's the point of having a 'limited time offer'?"
How about frozen yogurt? It's presented as healthier than ice cream, and yet the pictures in the windows of TCBY often are in chocolate-dipped waffle cones with sprinkles. (Bait-and-switch?)
Work your way up to the damning memos about nicotine-laced candy that were released surreptitiously from inside the tobacco companies, and the beer ads with scantily clothed women.
Why would they put nicotine in candy? (Actually, the memos are pretty clear on the rationale IIRC, but the kids should be able to come up with it on their own.)
Why are people who are drinking pretty much always shown to be laughing, with their clothes half falling off?
You can be quite frank with children about the truth, you don't have to make things out to be worse than they really are. That backfires, as so many above have noted. Give them the tools to be outraged instead, tap into their sense of fairness and their anger at being manipulated.
quote:For those of you that think Requiem for a Dream is an anti-drug movie, you missed the point. I think it is not really a good movie to show people that you want to indoctrinate with the idea that illegal drugs are bad. One of the points of RfaDm (At least according to the DVD commentary,) is that addiction is not limited to "illicit" drugs. RfaD attempting to expose the lie that DARE promotes, that some addictive substances are okay, while others are bad.
Actually, I think RfaD is an anti-addiction movie, not even substance addiction in particular, but the strongest message in it is about drugs (to most people anyways) so using it as an anti-drug would work, except of course it's rated NC-17 (for pretty good reason) and I'm not sure most parents of grade-schoolers would really want that to be shown in their kid's assembly ...
I basically decided that in my capacity, there isn't much I can do. I scheduled the assembly they told me to schedule. The DARE program works directly with the school and I have no control over it.
Last year Red Ribbon Week was about dressing up and getting small handouts with candy on them. If you were wearing your red bracelet, you got in a drawing. A few kids everyday got a cool prize. It bugged me to death, because all that happened was my kids got disappointed because they didn't get a prize.
You know, they called me to do this, probably because of all the hours I've logged in at the school. I have never joined the PTA. But I won't get started there, maybe another thread...
So THIS is the note I'm sending out to parents:
quote: Dear Parents,
When my children were first born, it was fairly easy to know how to interact with them. When they cried, they might be hungry, uncomfortable, or bored. So I fed them, changed them, or played with them. Such things were simple, but extremely important.
It is harder now, with a child's inquisitive mind and influences you can't control, but it is just as necessary. When you talk with your young kids, you are not just talking to the 5 year old, you are speaking to the teenager and adult they will become. They remember your words. It is important that you speak to them honestly, in a manner appropriate to their age. You are giving them the tools now that they will need to cope with life tomorrow. Once they hit puberty, that time when they so desperately want to be independent, your job at instilling values should already have been accomplished. If you have established their trust by consistent, honest, and coherent parenting; and if you have established that you trust them by letting them make their own decisions as they come to understand their choices, then your teenager will come to respect and even seek your input as they move out into the world.
During the next week at school, your child will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week, a drug prevention program sponsored by the PTA. The children will be involved in activities, get to dress up, and we will be sending home activities to help initiate thought and discussion in families about drugs. But I hope you will not stop there. Think of your communication with your little ones now as immunizing them for later exposure to temptations. A one time shot won't do it. They need boosters.
Whenever you see an appropriate teaching moment, take the time to talk. Listen to your child and answer them truthfully. If the answer is "I don't know" don't be afraid to say that, and then follow up by saying "Lets go find out together". By being up front with them, and listening to their concerns and thoughts with consideration you are building a safe haven where they will feel comfortable communicating. Parent-child communication is one of the best defenses against illegal drug use that there is, and there is no better time than now to initiate it.
Our schedule for the week is as follows.
... [things about what will be happening and other technical details.]
All my handouts activities are meant to promote discussion with the parents. The last day of the week will be a "healthy alternatives" day where the kids dress up in fitness clothes and we will provide a healthy snack for them as well as give them all a certificate. No candy or material reward for 'completing the program'. I think motivations should come from within, not in pavlovian anticipation of a reward.
We will be tying a ribbon sign on our fence with the slogan "We have a life, we don't do drugs". I'm having the classes make up their own anti-drug slogan, putting it on a poster with all the kids signatures, and displaying it on the door.
Planning all this, I feel pretty useless. The things we can do at school, within the system as it is set up, will have little impression on the kids. I honestly believe that most of the responsibility really is on the parents. I wanted to plan a parent education night, but was told that would probably not work. Can't have it in the day because parents are too busy, having a night assembly is too much trouble and there probably wouldn't be enough of a turnout anyway. And this is from a school that rates high in parent participation.
Posts: 438 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
I was thinking about this last night, Amka.
I really like how you handled it. Sometimes it's harder to make small steps than to try to fix the world (the latter is all bright-colored and spangly, even if you never catch it), but the small steps add up.
These stuck out for me:
quote:When you talk with your young kids, you are not just talking to the 5 year old, you are speaking to the teenager and adult they will become.
quote: They need boosters.
quote: If the answer is "I don't know" don't be afraid to say that, and then follow up by saying "Lets go find out together".
That's great stuff.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Amka, I think you did an excellent job and I think that you will have more influence than you realize.
quote:The last day of the week will be a "healthy alternatives" day where the kids dress up in fitness clothes and we will provide a healthy snack for them as well as give them all a certificate. No candy or material reward for 'completing the program'. I think motivations should come from within, not in pavlovian anticipation of a reward.
YES! I whole-heartedly agree. When I was at the Y and kids were participating in one of the thousand "incentive" programs, all they cared about was the prize. One of them was a reading program and the kids would sit around figuring out which books were worth the most points. They never talked about the books themselves.
I am also very much in favor of giving kids healthy snacks. I think it's probably more important to educate children about diet and exercise than about avoiding illegal drugs.
Amka, I think that your entire letter is great. It underscores the parents' responsibility without being condescending or preachy. You should be really proud of yourself.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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