Police using Social Media to Keep Tabs on Underage Drinking--You Can Too!

By Chrissie Dziembowski

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board recently held a training for law enforcement professionals about how to use social networking sites, like Facebook and MySpace, to track illegal activity including: gang recruitment, underage drinking parties, and cyberbullying.

Some tips discussed in the training that you can implement in your home include:

• Having your family computer in a public/communal space in your home


• Becoming a member of social networking sites your children belong to


• Instead of forbidding the sites, learn to use them together, then youth aren't learning to navigate the site on their own--making them more susceptible to internet predators and scams
  
  To read the full story click HERE!

Guide to the Teenage Brain

By Chrissie Dziembowski

Is your teen rebelling against you? Obsessed with clothes and appearance? Glued to their phone/im/facebook/myspace/friends? Well, there is an actual scientific answer as to WHY they are acting this way!

Check out A Parent's Guide to the Teen Brain, from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, HERE to learn the science behind your teen's behavior, and skills, tools and tips to learn what you can do!

Stay safe and sober during prom and graduation!

By Chrissie Dziembowski

Its that time of year again--prom season and graduations! As you are charging your camera, stocking the fridge, and buying flowers and balloons, don't forget to consider ways to healthfully celebrate sans alcohol. Julie Mack, a parent and writer for the Kalamazoo Gazette of Michigan, recently wrote a wonderful and thoughtful article on the cost of social hosting and "how parents who host lose the most". To read the full story click HERE!

In her column, Mack references different fines and penalties in Michigan for providing alcohol to minors. In Pennsylvania, if an adult provides alcohol to minors it is considered a 3rd degree misdemeanor and may result in fines up to $2,500 and/or jail time up to 2 years. Its true--parents who host do lose the most!

If you suspect or know that someone in the community is hosting an underage drinking party, you can anonymously report it by calling 1-888-UNDER-21. This free, anonymous hotline is provided by Pennsylvanians Against Underage Drinking in partnership with the PA State Police. Use it--no one will know!

Lastly, as Carie Fletcher recently wrote in the Harris, Texas Police News:

Responsible parents and responsible teenagers can make high school celebrations a fun and lasting memory for everyone without the alcohol. Parents, teenagers, and communities have to work together to keep prom and graduation fun and safe!