CLASSES HELP PARENTS GUIDE KIDS' DECISIONS

Becoming a doctor requires 12 years of elementary and secondary
school, a four-year bachelor's degree and years of medical school and
residencies. Becoming a teacher requires four years of university
training and years of continuing education. To become a parent in
today's society most people rely on the training they received in
their own homes.

That can be a problem, according to David Hawkins, a professor out of
the University of Washington.

Hawkins believes every parent & even good ones & benefit from ongoing training.

"I think that it's great that our parents did a good job, but I think
it's important to realize the issues our children are facing are
different kinds of issues. I'm an old guy now, just turned 60, but
when I was growing up & marjuana, that was something jazz musicians
in Louisiana did, while today parents need to be aware of that," Hawkins said.

While drug use, gang violence and other societal problems have
escalated across the United States over the last decades, Hawkins has
worked to determine indicators that can be targetted to safeguard youth.

Today Hawkins' research shows how stronger families and communities
can help. Hawkins' program, Communities that Care, is being used in
Tooele County, along with his parenting classes Guiding Good Choices.
The courses are funded through a federal National Institue on Drug
Abuse (NIDA) grant. Enrollment for the five-week courses is $15 and
enrollment is open to parents of children 9-14 who attend Tooele City schools.

Communities that Care was designed to prevent youth from using
alcohol and other drugs and has also been found to help prevent
delinquency. Guiding Good Choices works in conjunction to teach
parents how to reduce critical risk factors that are especially
influential during late elementary and middle school years.

"What I would like to see in America is we change the culture," Hawkins said.

Hawkins' programs are implemented in Tooele City by Milo Berry, and
supported by the school district, police department, chamber of
commerce, physicians, parents and other community leaders.

"It's the way for a community to rescue themselves from risk factors
which are creating problems for youth," explained Berry.

Tooele City is one of 12 cities across the U.S. in a pilot program.
Essentially Tooele City is under the microscope as researchers trace
our eighth-graders over their lifespan to determine how Communities
that Care impacts their life.

By the end of this year, Guiding Good Choices hopes to attract 180
program participants in Tooele County. Last year the program enrolled 104.

The program is one of three funded by a $82,500-yearly grant. Berry
estimates every dollar spent on Guiding Good Choices saves $6,187 in
incarceration costs later on.

"Prevention programs save about $7 over what intervention programs
save, they're that much more cost effective," Berry said.

The prevention of delinquent activities is a relatively new endeavor.
Before the 1980s, scant research on delinquent treatment programs
found not a single program showed benefits treating juveniles, says Hawkins.

The drug boards, posters, drug information programs, evaluations,
were not only found ineffective, but if anything, the evaluation
showed that some kids exposed to drug prevention programs were more
likely to use drugs in the coming years.

Correcting those problems, socieal scientists began to use the same
strageties as public health officials. Treating risk factors for
cardiovascular health and other diseases, for example, can be more
effective than trying to treat the disease after its onset. By making
changes in risk areas & like reducing salt intake or exercising,
people were able to prevent disease.

So, Hawkins and other social scientists started looking for risk
factors present in early child development that lead to using dugs,
dropping out of school, juvenile crime, violent behavior, teenage
pregnancy and sexual activity.

Based on Hawkins research, Guiding Good Choices, teaches parents to
clearly define acceptable behavior, keep tabs on their children, use
loving discipline and stay consistent.

"If more families were clear and explicit, monitored activities and
[were] consistent and moderate in their discipline, their children
were less likely to engage in problem behaviors like drug abuse,
violence, and risky sexual behavior," Hawkins said.

In addition to finding the important role parents play in their
children's lives, the research points to areas where parents can have
significant impact. For instance, whether parents drink alcohol
themselves or not, they can help their children avoid dependency by
encouraging them to delay drinking.

Research has found youth who begin drinking before age 15 are two to
three times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who wait
until they're 19 to have alcohol.

"So just gettting people to delay onset, to wait until they're older,
is an important strategy," Hawkins said.

Rewarding positive behavior decreases the likelihood youth will turn
to bad behavior.

One misconception, Hawkins said, is that parents lose their influence
as children grow older.

"[Some may think] we've done all we can and we just have to let go,
and it turns out that is wrong," Hawkins said. "We have to let loose
without letting go.

"Teenagers will tell you their most important influence not to use
drugs was their parents; their most important influence not to have
sex was their parents," Hawkins said, emphasizing it's a matter of taking time.

Hawkins children are currently both in their early to mid twenties.
Over the years Hawkins said he's tried to maintain communication with
his children. Hawkins said his son and the rest of their family had
attended a parenting class years back. His son had agreed he would
not drink without first telling his parents.

At age 15, his son came into the kitchen and said, "Dad I want to
start drinking."

"So I tried all my arguments I know from science; early use, small
body ratio, history of alcoholism & not convincing. So, I said to him
look you're about to drive, working on getting your license, when you
do you will have to pay [$500 - $ 1000 for your insurance premium.]
Hawkins told his son if he waited until the legal age to drink, he
would pay for his insurance.

Hawkins son said now you're talking and agreed not to drink.

"Some people will say maybe you bribed him, but the thing is he got
through those next two years without drinking," Hawkins said.

Hawkins recommends when expectation are set, the parents think
through what they will do if the child feels they can't live
according to a rule.

In his son's case, Hawkins said, he wouldn't have been able to drive
if he couldn't come up with the $500. If he had come up with the
money, "I'll have a rule that says no drinking or driving for sure,"
Hawkins said.

Hawkins believes parents need to practice parenting skills. That's
why he believes workshops like Guiding Good Choices are important.

"If we have a teenager we should go to a parenting class in order to
learn the skills to be good parents," he said. "For all parents, the
communities where this has been most institutionalized have been the
communities were the leaders of the communities do this first."

Hawkins has heard the argument that the only parents who'd come to a
parenting class are those who don't need it. He doesn't believe that's true.

The programs offered in Tooele are research tested to be effective.

"There are a number of programs that are well intentioned and good
ideas but not tested," Hawkins said. "Doing our best with our best
ideas doesn't necessarily guarantee success. So what we're banking on
and what we're encouraging Milo and communities like Tooele [to do,
is get schools, churches, and every unit of society involved in
creating strong homes, and encouraging parents to train.]"

Another advantage of Guiding Good Choices is it allows parents to
work together to combat peer pressure. For example, if all parents
have the same rules, children can't inflict guilt with, "Bill's mom
let's him do this," Hawkins said.