Today's discussion really got me thinking about how and when to educate students about alcohol and drugs. There was a comment made about parents setting a good example when drinking alcohol. For some children this might work, but I think for the majority it will not. My parents and aunts and uncles drank responsibly in front of my siblings and cousins but that did not stop some from misusing alcohol. Then, at one family party my youngest aunt said that she is educating her youngest child (the youngest cousin) about alcohol. My cousin just turned eleven but my aunt has been educating her on the topic since she was about 7 or 8. My aunt believes that teaching my cousin at a young age about misusing alcohol will be more effective than doing it when my cousin is a little older and wanting more independence. I think this is a smart move on my aunt's part and that we as teachers should educate our students, even as young as 7 or 8, about alcohol and drugs. I do not think it will hurt students by making them aware of the dangers, effects and consequences that can accompany the misuse of alcohol and drugs.
Is 7 too young to start discussing and educating children about alcohol and drugs? I don't think so. Especially if you begin the education with the students identifying what foods and drinks are healthy, let them make choices and solve their own problems. This will help build their knowledge of what is healthy and what is not and build their confidence in making their own decisions. Throughout all of their education students need to be reminded of what is healthy and what is dangerous, illegal and life-threatening. Whether it is with food, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, basically anything that can have an unhealthy side; students need to constantly be made aware of what is healthy.
That leads me to another point. We cannot tell students that food, alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sex are good or bad. For example, "Good people don't go out and drink, have sex, do drugs, smoke, over eat, purge, ect...", "Sex is bad, drugs are bad, drugs are bad". These kind of statements do not explain anything about risks and such. I think those words are all together the wrong words to use. The words good and bad should be used to describe how something tastes or smells or something along those lines (in conversations that are fluffy and not serious) . I do not believe they belong in conversations that are as serious as food (eating disorders), alcohol, drugs, tobacco and sex. The one word that should be used is health/y. Students should learn to think about what is healthy and what can hurt their bodies. If I said, "students should learn to think about what is good and bad for their bodies" it would be too vague whereas health/y and other words are more descriptive and positive.
ED460 Personal and Social Well Being is a course taken by college students in education during their student teaching semester. Topics covered include: poverty, child abuse, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, counselors' role in school, adolescents and choices, and the use of technology.
OOH clarie! I think you made some good points. I agree about the young age with parenting. It is a tough line, but i know so many people who wait to educate their children till they're independent. By this point kids are already making so many of their own decisions and when the parents try to come in then, they have already lost the child. There is not much hope. I also like what you sadi about talking about things as healthy. I think it is great compared to good/bad. One more word that I really like to talk about is happiness. I don't thin that getting drunk or having premarital sex will truly make these students happy. It won't give them lasting happiness or peace or fullfillment. I just don't think that it will make them actually happy and if they can realize this i think they will try to live for something more.
ReplyDeleteThat is sooo true Sean! Thank you for adding happiness!
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you on educating children early about drugs and alcohol. I know that as a child if I was told something was bad or to stay away from it I listened. I know thats not the case for every little kid but in some cases it is effective. By kids knowing what is good and bad including the risks of the bad they will be less likely to experiment just because they are curious. They'll be able to make a conscious decision on what do by being well informed of the risks. This must start at a young age before its too late.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that starting younger is better. Also, using bribes to keep students from drinking as minors doesn't work. My grandpa tried bribing us with $1000 if we didn't drink, do drugs or smoke until we were 21...so far at least the 6 oldest have failed, the youngest of whom is 16...SOOOO what would have potentially been a much smarter tactic on the part of my grandpa and all of our parents would have been to give us a better understanding of WHY we shouldn't be drinking. Also, don't make the deal when they are already teenagers because as your aunt said, start before they are pushing for independence! So, I completely agree, let's talk to our kids and help them make the right choices on their own instead of telling them what to do! (Love and Logic haha)
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