Specific Strategies: Consistent Messages

Prior to your sons and daughters’ first year at MCC, they’ll be asked to complete an online teaching exercise called the College Alcohol Profile (CAP).

This will provide them with some feedback about the choices, risks, and consequences of drinking. It will also help to correct misperceptions about the drinking norm itself at MCC. Part of this training will be some specific suggestions about how to avoid high-risk drinking.

We want you to know what they’ll be taught here, so you can add to or reinforce those strategies.

Ways to Help Your Friends

  1. Be the designated driver.
  2. Be a role model for your friends.
  3. Know and respond to alcohol poisoning.
  4. Never leave an intoxicated person alone.

Drinking Tips

  1. Know your limits, stick to them, and stay in control.
  2. Determine how many drinks to have and stop at your number.
  3. Eat right before and while drinking.
  4. Learn from past mistakes and make adjustments.
  5. Drink one or two an hour. Shots hit in about 20 minutes.
  6. Check if your medicine interacts badly with alcohol.
  7. Don’t drink if you have a strong family history of alcoholism.
  8. Drink for quality, not quantity (a 6-pack of imported or micro beer).
  9. Be aware of your situation. If you feel unsafe, leave.
  10. Watch your drinks while being made and after. Never leave your drink alone, even if you only have a soft drink.
 

Specific Strategies

Here are some strategies you may use to talk to your sons and daughters about how they can manage situations to keep them safe. It’s best to choose a couple of the strategies, based on what you know about your sons and daughters.

  • Suggest Alternatives

    Make sure your sons and daughters have a plan of some activities that could be used in place of drinking.

  • Use Deception

    Students often report holding a drink but not actually drinking it. This deception helps others to leave them alone and not pressure them to drink something.

  • Turn Pressure Around

    This strategy involves questioning the other person about pressure. Effective phrases include:


    • “Why are you trying so hard to make me do something I don’t want to do?”
    • “But I told you, no, I’m not going to do that. Don’t you listen?” An other way to say this is: “Stop pressuring me. Your’e going to drive me crazy!”
    • “What kind of friend are you to keep pressuring me? Back off.”


  • Share Responsibility

    Have your sons and daughters talk with a friend before the party, and share a plan to stay safe. Ask that friend to help make sure they both stick to the plan.

  • Leave the Scene

    Suggest your sons and daughters have a plan for how to get home if there’s no one at the party who has not been drinking or if they’re in a situation they feel is unsafe.

  • Plan Ahead

    Most underage drinking occurs at parties, and in most cases, your sons and daughters know that alcohol will be at the party. They need to have a plan for how they’re going to deal with the situation so they’ll stay safe.

  • Use Humor

    If your sons and daughters typically converse with a lot of humor, advise them to use it to think of things to say that can get them out of a bad situation. Encourage them to make the humorous statement on their own, so it’s something they feel confident in.

 
 
Power of Parenting at Metropolitan Community College was developed with support from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety, the Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcohol & Drug Abuse and in part by Grant #93.243 under the Strategic Prevention Framework-Partnership for Success Grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Substance Abuse Prevention through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and Region 6 Behavioral Healthcare.

 

 
©2014 Nebraska Prevention Center for Alcohol and Drug Abuse
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