JUST KEEP TALKING; YOUR KIDS WILL LISTEN

Dangers Of Drugs Being Heard

They slam doors. They spend time alone. They speak in monosyllables.

They are the creatures from the Adolescent Abyss.

They used to be your sweet children.

Now you wear a deer-in-the-headlight look. What happened?

Take heart, parents. There's hope.

As America's teens emote their way through the subterranean tunnel to
adulthood, they aren't really lost. They are just bumbling toward
independence the way every generation before them did. It'll be OK.

And despite all evidence to the contrary, they can still hear you.

What parents say matters.

That's part of the good news in the findings of the just-released 2004
National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The survey found that illegal drug use among teens dropped 9 percent from
2002 to 2004. The rate for adults remained about the same, which strongly
suggests parents are doing something right.

Think about that for a minute: In this world of rat-eat-rat survival shows,
four-letter-word lyrics and nastier-than-thou political debates, the kids
are getting a message worth hearing.

And it's coming from you, dear parent.

The survey found that youths aged 12 to 17 who said their parents would
strongly disapprove of substance use, were less likely to use the
substance. With marijuana, for example, only 5.1 percent of kids who knew
their parents would disapprove used marijuana in the past month. For kids
who said their parents wouldn't care or wouldn't care much, marijuana use
was 30 percent.

The survey also found that more parents are talking to their kids about the
dangers of drug, tobacco or alcohol use.

In 2004, 60.3 percent of kids said at least one of their parents had talked
the talk. That was up from 58.9 percent in 2003 and 58.1 percent in 2002.

More parents are talking to kids about the dangers of substance abuse, and
fewer kids are abusing substances.

The survey is careful to warn against jumping to conclusions about "causal
connections" in the data. That's bureaucratic jargon for, "We don't want to
be held responsible."

As the kids say: "Whatever."

The evidence is clear enough for parents to figure out: They listen.

It may not look like it, but kids listen to what parents say.

So keep talking, you're doing fine.