TALKING HELPS: PROGRAM AIMS TO GET PARENTS, KIDS TALKING

A 15-minute conversation between a parent and child each day could help
keep children from experimenting with drugs and alcohol.

That was the message Lori Clarke, director of parent education for the
Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, brought to parents who attended a
one-hour program sponsored Dec. 14 by the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School's
Office of Student Services.

The parenting program, dubbed the "15-Minute Child Break," was attended by
a handful of parents whose children attend the prekindergarten through
sixth-grade school in Seaside Heights.

"The program is designed to empower and assist parents in building better
communication with their kids," Clarke said.

"The '15-Minute Child Break' was developed based on research from the
partnership's 2000 Middle School Study on Substance Use, which found that
kids who have consistent communication with a parent or care giver every
day is 67 percent less likely to engage in substance abuse," she said.

David Julian, a social worker and guidance counselor at the school, said
the program is not geared toward teaching parents about drug use or how to
talk to their children about drugs.

"Rather, it is a program that opens the doors of communication between
parents and children. Parents can talk to their kids about anything, and
they'll often find their kids are listening to the things they say," Julian
said.

"Indirectly they are going to get the message about how you feel about drug
and alcohol use," he said.

Julian said the school's goal in presenting such a program is to get
information to parents and students that will help when their child enters
middle school.

"Hopefully the message that drugs and alcohol are bad will stick with the
students when they leave us," he said.

Julian said the school's resource officer presents the Drug and Alcohol
Resistance Education program each spring to students.

"We also had a Red Ribbon Week celebration in October in which we had
special programs that got out the message that students should say no to
drugs and alcohol," he said.

Students designed posters and wrote essays about why they wanted to be
Captain No (who says no to drugs and alcohol). Guests included a special
agent from the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and First Assistant Ocean
County Prosecutor Terrence P. Farley.

Julian said he is planning a similar program for students in the spring.

Visit www.drugfreenj.org for information about the Parnership for a
Drug-Free New Jersey.