Parents Urged To Join Forces On Teen Drinking

Parents are planning to play kids at their own game – communication – in a bid to address teen drinking in Nelson.

Youth action groups, Public Health, police and the Nelson City Council have joined forces to invite parents to a meeting where they can network and strategise on teen drinking issues.

Nelson City Council Safe City Advisor Ingrid Beach says the aim of the meeting is to air the problem and get parents working together.

“The kids are all texting or on the phone to each other – but often parents don’t even know who their kids’ friends’ parents are,” she says. “If we can help them to act collectively they can work together on strategies like setting guidelines around young people’s use of alcohol and partying.”

The meeting will begin with an introduction from paediatrician Nick Baker, then the scene will be set with ‘Choices’, a 25 minute play about safer partying.

Rosey Duncan from Health Action says ‘Choices’ was devised by HYPE-GS (Help for young people at events and in their Gathering Spaces) with the help of young people and is based on their stories and experiences: “The stories were developed into a script that will be played by four youth actors to schools and community audiences across the Top of the South in May and June. HYPE-GS workers regularly see young people who are experiencing the negative effects of alcohol or other drug use, and they wanted to do something proactive about it.”

The main part of the meeting will be for parents to network and strategise. Ingrid says just getting together is a good start for parents, then it will be up to them to decide how far they want to take it. The Ministry of Justice is funding a professional facilitator to run the discussion to ensure there are workable results.

“It might be as simple of just having a phone list among a peer group where parents can check up that their kids’ stories about the party and who is supervising it all tally up,” Ingrid says. “What we really hope is that this group will take a community leadership role and create some social change around teenagers and alcohol in Nelson.”

The first meeting is a pilot and is being held at Nelson College for Girls. Nelson College parents are also invited, as are other concerned parents from other colleges.

Parents are asked to come prepared to share their experiences, concerns and answers.

The meeting is on Wednesday 25 May at the Nelson College for Girls Hall, 6.45pm for a 7pm performance of Choices.

Ends

Community Notice
Parents – here’s an action call to get together and take action on the way our teens are drinking. Hear from an expert, see what happens when drinking goes wrong, meet other parents. Share your experience and help to find solutions. Wednesday 25 May at the Nelson College for Girls Hall, 6.45pm for a 7pm performance of Choices.

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