Last night I attended a panel discussion of 15 teens from the surrounding private and parochial schools. The discussion was a very frank one about what kids do on weekends.

There was a tremendous, most impressive list of all the activities, student governments, committees, associations, clubs, teams, mission, jobs, etc. in which these kids were involved.

Here is what they said:
- # 1 reason they party is to reduce stress, relax, blow off steam, escape from school, activities, hard work, commitments during the week, and parents academic demands.

- They have fake i.d.'s but don't need them. Alcohol is easy to get, so is pot.

- Kids are blatant about drinking, but will smoke pot off to the side. Kids drink to get drunk. Drinking games are big.

-They drink to loosen up and it turns just hanging out into a party because people have more fun when they drink.

- There are some kids who attend these parties who don't drink. According to the group, they are well respected.

- Kids don't drive drunk and won't let their friends drive drunk.

-They look out for one another and call parents and/or take kids to the hospital when needed.

-They have had more than enough education about alcohol and drugs at school.

-Pot is used, but not nearly as popular as alcohol. There is a small percentage of kids using hard core drugs, but they pretty much keep to themselves and don't push them.

-Rarely do kids sell their ritalin, concerta, etc. but it happens. It is sold to kids who are cramming for tests. It helps them stay focused and up later, therefore able to keep their good grades.

-Some kids will sell pain killers from recent personal surgeries.

-When parents allow their kids to drink a glass of wine at dinner, it takes all the fun out of it.

-Athletes drink less during their season because you can get kicked off the team.

-For the most part, most of this begins in Junior and Senior year.

-If Freshman and Sophmores are coming home drunk then you need to do something about it.

Well there you have it. There were approx. 180 parents in attendance. When it was the parents turn to ask questions they did so with respect and not pointing fingers in anger or frustration. The parents were simply grateful for the information.

One adult asked about alcoholism, AA, detox programs. The kids knew people who are involved in such programs and they know kids that they think should be involved with such programs. One boy very respectfully stated that the percentage of alcoholics among youth is probably the same percentage of alcoholics in our generation.

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments!

Tomorrow I will post what they had to say about sex, and then I will post their advice to parents and what they most wanted their parents to hear from them. It was oh so interesting!