Spring Break: what parents should know

As spring break approaches, Village Living spoke to clinical psychologist and Director of Student Services for Mountain Brook Schools Dr. Dale Wisely.

With spring break coming up, and given the realities of alcohol and drug use among teenagers, including Mountain Brook teenagers, what are some concerns that come to your mind?

High school students in Mountain Brook work hard at school, and most approach spring break with an desire to relax and have fun. This often translates into plans to party with their peers, which too often includes alcohol and drugs. Add to that recreational activities — boating comes to mind — and we worry every year about our teenagers getting through the week. Let me quickly add, though, that there are many teenagers in this community who don’t drink and who avoid alcohol and drugs. We often fail to recognize those students who are looking after their own health and safety and that of their friends.

How do parent attitudes about spring break contribute to the problem?

I have a personal term for a problem I have seen. It’s the “Lake Effect,” and I stole the term from meteorology. A number of parents who normally do a great job of supervising their teenagers and setting limits on their behavior get lax at the lake and during vacations. It’s as if they say, “It’s spring break, let the kids have a good time.” They assume that their teenagers are going to be out and around, and they don’t keep up with their whereabouts. This is also when we are most likely to see a relaxing of the family rules about alcohol use. As the parents of teenagers, we should recognize that school breaks are actually dangerous times for our youth, and we need to maintain reasonable limits.

Families sometimes travel to countries where high school students meet the legal drinking age in that location. What should parents consider in dealing with that?

There are many reasons teenagers should avoid alcohol use. The legal consequences of getting arrested is just one, but there are others related to health and safety. If parents have adopted a “no-alcohol use” policy with their high school students, which is certainly what we recommend and what the law supports, they should enforce that in all settings.

Regarding substance abuse, what are the worries you have about particular substances?

There are many out there of course, and statewide there is a concern about synthetic marijuana and the so-called “bath salts.” These appear to be quite dangerous, and there are many relatively unknown and poorly understood compounds in them that vary widely. There continues to be discussion about an increase in heroin use in the Birmingham area, including Over-the-Mountain communities. That said, I it’s still true that statistically we are most likely to see problems related to underage drinking, marijuana and prescription drug abuse. Alcohol use can lead to terrible consequences, including death. It appears that most teenagers who say they drink regularly are highly prone to binge drink, and that is a source of real danger. Most of the abuse of prescription drugs is either prescription pain medication, anti-anxiety medication, or the abuse of stimulant medications such as Adderall. There are increasing concerns on a national level about this problem.

What is the role of curfews?

Many parents set a fixed curfew. Others set the curfew on a given night, depending on the circumstances — where the teen is going to be, who will be there, what adult supervision will be in place, and so on. I suggest parents continue to enforce a curfew during spring break.

Let me mention this concern. Many families go to the beach for spring break, and it is common for teenagers to meet new people from different places. Parents may get phone calls, for example, from their kids with a vague statement along the lines of, “I’m going to hang out at this condo with these people I met from out of state.” To me, this should send up red flags. The people they just met are strangers, and there are all kinds of opportunity there for trouble. We have to remember that drinking and drugs often lead to physical assaults, sexual assault and all kinds of serious trouble. When people are drinking or using drugs, they lose their normal sense of judgment and safety, and that is dangerous.

Contrary to popular belief, I’m not at all opposed to people having a good time! I think teenagers should have an enjoyable time on break. However, we challenge parents to review their plans and to resolve to maintain sensible parenting guidelines and to monitor their kids’ whereabouts during spring break and all school holidays.

Dale Wisely, Ph.D. has been a child and adolescent psychologist for nearly 30 years.