PARENTS CAN RE-ENFORCE DRUG AWARENESS MESSAGE

When my eleven-year old daughter, Brenna C Glassheim came home last
fall and informed me that she wanted to stay after school for
D.A.R.E., my first thought was, "Great, another after school driving
obligation." My second thought was "What can a police officer and
some high school kids tell my daughter about drugs, alcohol, etc,
that I can't?"

What I learned is that D.A.R.E., (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is
a program that is committed to educate; not only with the help of
police officers, who too often witness the harmful effects of drugs
and alcohol abuse, but also the experience of students who may have
been pressured to experiment.

As a parent, I learned that I can tell my girls to "just say no" or
"live above the influence." Those are just words; just slogans. I
found that D.A.R.E. was more than just words, or slogans. D.A.R.E. is
a group of caring people who believe in their work and work towards
their belief that our children (or young adults) can be what all
children should be--drug and alcohol free.

I encourage all parents to have their children participate in
D.A.R.E. My daughter learned how to make new friends, how to deal
with peer pressure, and how to make good choices. She also learned
from the experience of others the negative effects that the abuse of
drugs and alcohol has on our bodies and our society.

That's an education to last a lifetime!

Paulette R Glassheim,

Member, D.A.R.E. Advisory Board ,Oshkosh