Parents are responsible for parties their children host, even if they are unaware of the party’s occurrence, speakers said at the“Kids and Alcohol/Drugs: The Rules, the Consequences, and the Tools to Guide your Kids”, hosted by the Parents’ Association March 5.

Author Caitlin Flanagan (Patrick Hudnut ’16) and attorney Laurie Levenson (Daniela ’17, Havi ’08, Solly ’06) spoke about drug and alcohol use involving teenagers to the audience in Chalmers.

“Parents who allow teens to binge drink at home, with the idea that kids will learn how to drink before going to college may be doing their kids a disservice.  Kids can get an inflated sense of their ability to handle themselves behind a lot of alcohol, only to get to that first big frat party, get hammered and discover far too late that this time there aren’t parents in the next room to step in if things get out of hand,” Flanagan said.

Levenson went over legal facts and Flanagan went over possible scenarios involving drugs and alcohol.

“We made it very clear that it is absolutely illegal for adults to serve alcohol to any minor, including in their own home,” said Levenson.

 

The scenarios Flanagan spoke of were about letting your child go to a party or saying they can’t, and how to discuss safety at parties with your child. Following Flanagan’s speech, the parents broke into groups and talked about how they would handle each situation, and shared ideas.

“This lecture did a good job of reinforcing the real rules and consequences of teen drug and alcohol use,” said parent Christina Quinn (Claire ’16).