Sue Scheff: Teaching Your Teen to Drive Safely

Source: Safe Teen Driving Club

OK. You've probably been driving for 25+ years. You can do a great job tutoring your child as she learns to get the feel of the car...how to navigate through traffic, etc. But many parents aren't up to date on the Graduated Driver Licensing laws that affect both teens and parents. Further, the risk factors that lead to crashes are manageable -- if you know what they are, and how to avoid them. These articles will help you get a head start in teaching your teenager how to drive.

Learning to Drive: A Guide for Parents
Unsafe Driving Behaviors to Watch for with Your Teen
Cell Phones - A Leading Cause of Driver Distraction
Street Wise On-Line Driving Game from Daimler Chysler
Is Your Teen Ready to Drive?

Further, there are six major challenges new drivers must face. Not only do they need to understand what they are...they need to practice each one. Perhaps the only advanced collision avoidance program that addresses each of these is the teenSMART training program. It's a complete package of DVD, CD's and workbooks that parents and teens study together -- including spending substantial hours behind the wheel to put theory into practice. It can save up to $1000 in insurance premiums with select insurance carriers over the teen's driving history. But more important, it can reduce the likelihood of a crash by 30 to 70 percent! You can find more about teenSMART® here.

Sue Scheff: Parents Learning More About Teen Medicine Abuse

Source: StopMedicineAbuse

Welcome to the Five Moms: Stopping Cough Medicine Abuse Campaign

Learn about teen cough medicine abuse.Share information about abuse.

First launched in May 2007, the Five Moms Campaign has reached over 24 million parents with these basic messages to parents about preventing teen cough medicine abuse.

When the campaign launched, teen cough medicine abuse was on the increase. Now, nationwide statistics point to a slight decrease. That’s great news, but more work has to be done to eliminate this type of substance abuse behavior among teens.

CHPA brought together five moms—a pediatric nurse practitioner, an accountant, a D.A.R.E. officer, an educator, and an author—from different backgrounds and from all over the country to encourage parents to get involved in stopping cough medicine abuse. And now Five Moms is part of the StopMedicineAbuse.org effort.

Join the campaign. Membership is free and entitles you to the monthly e-newsletter and occasional e-mail updates. (Read our privacy policy.)

Tell your friends about teen cough medicine abuse. You can use the English or Spanish tell-a-friend feature.

Learn more about the issue, how to talk with your teens about drug abuse, and how to protect them from different online threats.

Sue Scheff: Stop Medicine Abuse

Source: StopMedicineAbuse

Recent studies among middle and high school aged kids across the country show a disturbing form of substance abuse among teens: the intentional abuse of otherwise beneficial medications, both prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC), to get high.

Teens who learn a lot about the dangers of drugs from their parents are half as likely to abuse drugs.
According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in five teens reports having abused a prescription drug to get high. Where OTC medicines are concerned, data from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America indicate that one in 10 teens reports having abused OTC cough medicines to get high, and 28 percent know someone who has tried it.

The ingredient the teens are abusing in OTC cough medicines is dextromethorphan, or DXM. When used according to label directions, DXM is a safe and effective ingredient approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is found in well over 100 brand-name and store-brand over-the-counter cough medicines. When abused in extreme amounts, DXM can be dangerous.

StopMedicineAbuse.org was developed by the leading makers of OTC cough medicines to build awareness about this type of substance abuse behavior, provide tips to prevent it from happening, and encourage parents to safeguard their medicine cabinets. Substance abuse can touch any family: The key to keeping teens drug-free is education and talking about the dangers of abuse.