Teen drinking: the unwelcome rite of passage for parents
Toolbox
Published: June 5, 2004
By SKY BARSCH Staff Writer
For graduating high school seniors, it's time to celebrate. Prom night brings tuxedoes, gowns and dancing. Graduation brings cap tossing and tassel switching.
But for parents who host drinking parties and youngsters who imbibe, celebrations can bring serious legal trouble and cast shadows on years of academic work, community service and sports achievements.
Two after-prom parties in central Vermont last month have sparked a debate about underage drinking.
At a Fayston party involving Harwood Union High School students, a student suffered alcohol poisoning, and a car was set on fire. Parents were not home at the time. At a Middlesex party involving U-32 High School students and possibly some from Montpelier High School, 30 youths were cited with possession of malt beverage. A U-32 parent, Sara Travis, was in the house at the time and was drinking with the students, police have said. Travis, 49, faces criminal charges.
In both instances, student athletes caught drinking were suspended from the rest of the season.
Some parents say that allowing their children and their friends to drink at home prevents them from driving to a location where they will be unsupervised, drink and drive home.
But Barbara Cimaglio, director of the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs for the Vermont Department of Health says that line of thinking is flawed.
"Part of our culture is (the end of high school is) a time when kids can go out and party and that's happened for years," Cimaglio said. "We have to be careful as adults not to condone something just because it's happening."
Mark Berry, a member of the U-32 school board, says when a parent allows other people's children to drink in their home, they are taking away the right to parent. He says he doesn't believe that allowing young people to drink at home is a protection measure.
"I disagree with that. I think ... they are disregarding other peoples' responsibilities you're taking over someone else's rights to raise their children. ... It's unfair to other parents if other things happen, if something goes wrong," Berry said. He said he believes the school does a good job of educating children on the risks and legal ramifications associated with underage drinking.
"I'm concerned that the community looks at the school to solve the problem," said Berry. "When these things happen outside the school, when they're told by other parents or other adults that (drinking) is OK, there's a weakness there." Berry said allowing underage youths to drink can endanger their safety and their future.
"We hear the defense that these are our good kids, and that's not a good defense," he said.
It's difficult, Cimaglio admits, for parents in rural communities to deter drinking when one household allows drinking and others do not. Parents should talk to each other and agree that no household will be a place where teens can drink.
"Research shows despite everything we know about peer pressure, the parent is still the number one influence on a child, even a teenager," Cimaglio says. "If a parent is participating in drinking with a young person ... it's sending a mixed message that it's OK to drink under these conditions, and we're saying it's clearly not."
This is all in the best interest of the youth's health, she says.
"Current research on brain development clearly shows that the brain is still growing and developing well into the early 20s," Cimaglio said. "When we talk about the importance of people under the age of 21 not drinking, the science definitely shows that brain development is affected by use of alcohol. The reason that we're so strong about underage drinking and saying you should not drink at all is largely because of the health affects and the potential damage to the development of the brain."
Which is why she says no underage drinking "should be the rule of the family."
Cimaglio says students want to spend prom and graduation nights with their friends, and it's important for their community to be supportive of that, by offering drug and alcohol free alternatives like all-night Project Graduation parties.
Peter Evans, principal of Montpelier High School, says he supports the idea of a "Project Prom," and not just because it guarantees one night of drinking prevention. The time it takes for students to raise money, plan and prepare for Project Graduation is time spent free from drug and alcohol use, he said.
U-32 Principal Dot Blake has also said she supports the idea of a Project Prom.
Parents looking for information on how to prevent underage drinking can visit www.state.vt.us/adap.
Contact Sky Barsch at sky.barsch@timesargus.com or 479-0191, ext. 1153.
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