The Municipal Alliance’s talk at Cranford High’s Back to School Night - Cranford High School
Time is going by for me as a Cranford parent. My daughter is now a freshman here at Cranford high. As she’s gotten older, the Municipal Alliance mission of making sure 21 Means 21 in our town has meant that much more to us, and hopefully to her. I’m glad she’s heard it from her parents since early in her days at Hillside Elementary. I hope it’s sunk in. And I hope it’s sunk in for your families as well.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off - Chicago Art Museum
By now I hope you all grasp the dangers of underage alcohol and substance abuse, of binge-drinking and now of vaping and of all the things that can come from dangerous decisions our kids might make. The stat that stands out to me is how someone is seven times more likely to be an alcoholic as an adult if they drink regularly as a teen. We need to help our kids make decisions that are going to help them for the rest of their lives, and most of all we can’t condone underage drinking in our homes.
But I don’t want to focus too much on those dangers tonight. As my daughter has moved on to Cranford High, my concerns on this have evolved a bit.
Knowing that I’m giving this talk at her high school tonight, knowing that I chair the Municipal Alliance, she asked that I not talk about her, not use her name, because she’s worried she’ll be ostracized and left out as that not-fun kid with the 21 Means 21 dad.
So let’s talk for a moment about those perceived social pressures my daughter shared with me, and that I’m sure many other kids worry about too. About the need to fit in and find a crowd and how hard that can really be and what that can lead kids to do.
And when we’re talking about high schoolers trying to fit in, all that teen angst, for folks our age, who else do we turn to but to the immortal Mr. John Hughes?
We all know the letter at the end of Breakfast Club, right. When Anthony Michael Hall’s character voices over the part that tells Mr. Vernon, ‘We think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...
Andrew Clark: ...and an athlete...
Allison Reynolds: ...and a basket case...
Claire Standish: ...a princess...
John Bender: ...and a criminal...’
Life isn’t the movies, I realize. But Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson brought to life pretty well all those years ago how kids react to the social pressures they feel. It’s difficult for them to stand up and be themselves, to maybe be seen as ‘different.’
And kids in Cranford actually recognize the problem that those social pressures contribute to. We did a survey at National Night Out in August, and 72% of youth under 18 said they think alcohol is a problem in our community. 86% think vaping is a problem in our community.
When you look not just at all kids but all age groups that answered,
55% believe marijuana is a problem in the community
72% believe vaping is a problem
56% believe alcohol is a problem
And the big one, I think: 64% of all respondents believe alcohol is easily accessible for kids in our community.
Those stats are why the parents at their last back to school night have heard it so many times. As long as the challenge remains, we’ll keep repeating the message.
If you want to help us address this challenge, please check out our website at ourbestcranford.org or see me in the back after this to volunteer to be part of our efforts.
But at the very least, let’s encourage our kids to listen to my favorite John Hughes hero – Ferris Bueller. No, Mr. C, not following him for the skipping school part. But as Ferris put it,
‘Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.’
Let’s encourage our kids to be bold. To make the decisions they know are the right ones, not the ones they feel pressured to make.
Thank you!