What You Can Do
Community Members, Including Parents and Youth
Learn how to recognize Alcoholic Energy Drinks and alert your family members, friends, neighbors, school officials, retailers, and other community members about the risks AEDs pose to community health and safety, particularly young people.
Become active in your community. Seek support from elected officials and public officials (including school boards, city councils, board of supervisors) for local ordinances and resolutions that will promote consumer educations regarding the risks of AEDs and discouraging consumption, sale and distribution. (The Thousand Oaks ordinance and resolutions from national groups can serve as models).
Parents - Talking to your Children about Drinking
AEDs provide an important opportunity for parents to open a discussion with their children about drinking generally. For many parents, bringing up the subject of alcohol is no easy matter. Your young teen may try to dodge the discussion, and you yourself may feel unsure about how to proceed.
- Talk to your kids early and often. Talking to your children about alcohol use and the consequences and risks associated with drinking to intoxication can play an important role in influencing your teenager’s drinking habits.
- Modeling responsible attitudes and behavior. By modeling responsible attitudes and behavior with respect to your own drinking and avoiding drinking to intoxication, you have a much greater chance of positively influencing your teenager’s attitudes to drinking.
- Tools. Below are some useful tools.
- Too Smart to Start: Ready, Set, Listen Board Game
The Ready, Set, Listen Board Game is designed to help parents and young people talk to each other about underage alcohol use, why it's not smart, and how to prevent it. The game aims to increase the number of conversations about the harms of underage alcohol use that parents and caregivers have with children ages 9 to 13; and to increase the percentage of children 9- to 13 years-old and their parents/caregivers who see underage alcohol use as harmful.
Tips for Parents Toolkit The Tips for Parents Toolkit has been created to provide parents with information on alcohol use and availability, and advice about how to approach the topic of drinking alcohol with their children, and how parents can influence their teenagers’ drinking.
Start Talking Before they Start Drinking The Stop Underage Drinking site supports the Start Talking Before They Start Drinking Campaign in their efforts to combat underage drinking and to educate parents, youth, and others on the issue of alcohol abuse. Underage drinking can have serious consequences. You can protect your children from the risks associated with drinking by maintaining open communication and expressing a clear, consistent message about alcohol. Building a close relationship with your kids will make it easier for them to come to you for help in making decisions that impact their health and well-being.
Youth
AEDs are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the health and safety risks alcohol pose to young people.
Above the Influence
Get the facts! Learn how to say no to alcohol!
The Cool Spot
Resist Peer Pressure! Visit the “Cool Spot” - the young teens place for info on alcohol and resisting peer pressure.
Children of Alcoholics
Learn how alcohol and other drugs hurt everyone in a family. Learn how to feel safer and less stressed out, and find new ways to deal with hassles at home. Find hope, even if your parents don't change.
Visit the National Association for Children of Alcoholics webpage designed Just 4 Kids.
Tips for Teens
Be a real friend. You might even save a life. Learn how to recognize if your friend has a drinking problem.