Cruel summer
During summer months, teenage alcohol and drug use may go undetected. With school out, many kids do not have the structure and routines they are used to. Staying out later during evenings is more common. These are prime breeding grounds for teenage alcohol and drug abuse.
It’s not until the end of recess and closer to interim progress reports or the end of the first grading period that the problems begin to surface.
What are the keys to preventing such outcomes? First, treat summer months more akin to the rest of the year. This means enforcing an age-appropriate curfew.
Second, continue monitoring teenagers’ whereabouts and whom they are with.
Third, remain involved. It’s easy to take a more lackadaisical approach to rearing in the summer. While it’s one thing to have a summer crush, it’s quite another to be crushed by the summer.
Alexander Hernandez,
Miami
This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 2:08 AM with the headline "Cruel summer."