Here is an area where local governments can aid parents: by helping their children not smoke.

According to an Associated Press story, smoking bans in restaurants DO curb smoking among teenagers.

Youths who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than those in communities with no bans or weak ones, the researchers reported in the May issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The findings back up the idea that smoking bans discourage tobacco use in teens by sending the message that smoking is frowned upon in the community, as well as simply by reducing their exposure to smokers in public places, said Dr. Michael Siegel, of Boston University School of Public Health, and the study's lead author.

Of course, parents wield enormous influence over their children by kicking the habit themselves.

The study found that having a smoker as a parent or a close friend was a factor in predicting whether children experiment with cigarettes. But strong bans had a bigger influence on whether smoking grew into a habit, reducing their chances of becoming smokers by 40 percent.

Massachusetts is among 23 states to ban smoking in most public places, including restaurants and bars, according to AP.

Remember those myths about how to prevent pregnancy that made the rounds in high school? And how some of our friends found out the hard way that pulling out or having sex in a pool would NOT stop those pesky little sperm from swimming?

Well, the myths are back...but they're new and even MORE stupid! Case in point: Florida, where most schools teach an abstinence only curriculum-- if they bother to offer any sex education at all. The result is the sixth highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation, and myths like these:

Some Florida teens believe drinking Mountain Dew or smoking marijuana will prevent pregnancy and that swallowing a capful of bleach will prevent HIV/AIDS. One reason those dangerous myths have spread is the state's reliance on abstinence-only sex education, say advocates of a bill to require a more comprehensive approach in Florida's schools.

The measure narrowly won approval from a Senate committee Tuesday. Under the proposed legislation, schools would still be required to teach abstinence as the only sure way to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseasese, but they would have to teach more about sex. It would require, for example, teaching about condoms and other methods of birth control and disease prevention.

Teaching about condoms and other methods of birth control? How radical. But it seems the bill has a miniscule chance of becoming law, as it has to clear several committees with less than 30 days left in the legislative session.

Opponents of the bill, including pro-life activists, claim the bill will result in MORE teen pregnancies. Because accurate information about how to practice safe sex? NATURALLY results in more pregnancy and disease! Right?  Hmmm. Guess I just don't follow their logic.

One of the many reasons I'm glad to live in California: it was one of just three states in the nation to refuse federal funding tied to abstinence-only education. But instruction still varies wildly from district to district, and I will make sure that my daughter has access to information that is accurate and comprehensive. I don't ever want her to consider Mountain Dew and bleach as birth control options.

What's the status of sex ed in your neck of the woods?

Yet, another good diary. Thanks, Alice! -Elisa

Recently a mall near us started a curfew for kids 16 & under. They can't go to the mall on Friday or Saturday after 4pm unless accompanied by an adult over 21. What do you think of this? The mall's position is that the kids are using the mall as a hangout & are disruptive.They claim business has suffered as a result.

The mall is not one of the more popular ones & the big draw is the movie theater inside. I have been to this mall on weekend evenings before the curfew & noticed the typical gathering of young people waiting in the adjoining food area near the movie entrance.My thought is the reason the mall is losing business is because it is an older mall & the biggest store in it is Target.

The mall is basing the policy on one used by malls in other cities such as Mall of the Americas. Have you run into issues with kids overrunning the malls in your area? Do you drop off your young teens or allow them to go to the mall without "adult" supervision?

Taking advantage of my first time "front paging" to share this story from New York Magazine.  It's a very interesting story about how kids learn to lie (did you know it's a sign of intelligence?), why they continue to lie, and what they lie about.

(Unfortunately, the teaser headline - "they're copying their parents" is only a small part of the story - just another stab at parent-guilt)

A week ago, Sue in Queens asked us all How many kids do drugs? Well, if you’re talking about Australia, the answer is, a lot more than you want to see, and more children are developing health-threatening proclivities, according to this article in today’s The Age. Excuse me for doing a blatant cut-and-paste job, but the statistics are summed up as follows:

CHILDREN as young as 12 are seeking help for alcohol abuse as new figures from a major Melbourne drug treatment centre reveal a six-fold increase in cases of young people with drinking problems.

Some are drinking a slab of beer [NB: a slab is 24 cans of beer]Rachel or a bottle of spirits a day and have developed serious health problems such as cirrhosis of the liver or hepatitis C. Cannabis dependency has also risen sharply, with some children smoking it to block out the pain of abuse.

Youth workers from Victoria's biggest drug treatment service for under-21s, the Youth Substance Abuse Service, say alcohol and cannabis dependence are now more common than heroin addiction.

The new figures from the service come ahead of a separate report to be released today from the Australian National Council on Drugs, which will warn that 20% of 16 year-olds are drinking to harmful levels in any given week, while one in every 200 children aged 12 are drinking at harmful levels.

The ANCD report combined several major statistical studies on substance abuse for the first time. It warned that extra support for the family members of young substance abusers — including siblings — was needed.
Figures released to The Age show that the Youth Substance Abuse Service treated 776 cases of alcohol problems last year — up from 136 in 2002.
Cannabis cases rocketed from 608 to 1213, while heroin cases plummeted from 824 to 286.

The inhalation of toxic substances such as spray paint, glue and petrol (known as chroming) has also doubled.

And users are getting younger, with 12 to 15-year-olds accounting for 12% of all drug treatments — up from 9% in 2002

Our family is in the midst of preparing our 17 year old teen for the college application process.  This year, like last, we are faced with the recommended class schedule from the school counselor for her Senior year. And as with last year, we are feeling boxed in.

In our community as in many affluent communities, kids get pressured from all sides to amp up the competitive race towards college. That pressure likely comes mostly from the parents and then leaks into our schools and through our high school counselors.

On another messageboard that I read/write to, there is an intermittent debate about the inevitability of teens drinking, smoking pot, or doing other drugs.  Parents who post that their child is smoking pot are reassured that "most teens do it", and parents (like me) who believe their teens are not are called "naive" and are told they have their heads in the sand.  This is a gut-reaction issue for me on two levels.  First, there's this general belief that in the 60s and 70s "everyone did it" and "we turned out OK".  Since I knew many kids (including me, my DH, and many of my friends) who didn't, I know it wasn't "everyone", even if it was very common.  Second, I have a 16 year old - she's basically a "straight edge".  When she hears "everyone does it", I worry she'll think it's just "the thing to do" and not a choice made by a minority of teens.

Just a hint.
If by some small chance of fate you decide to clean out all the old cassettes you have in the wardrobe and you come across a tape that has all the lullabies you sang to your teen when they were itty bitty.
Don't listen to it.

Legend has it, that at one time there was a World Championship of the Beauty of Languages. The Republic of Estonia took second place after the Italians with the phrase: “'sхida tasa ьle silla' (Go slowly over the bridge). In celebration of the country’s 90th birthday, the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science is sponsoring a competition to choose the most beautiful language of the world. Students from every corner of the globe have been invited to participate. The entries must contain an audio presentation of a sentence made up of one to seven words.

Being a progressive, liberal-minded political activist mom who learned everything about what NOT to do from my own mom, I set out to have this warm, open, communicative relationship with my children. I envisioned us sharing our inner most thoughts, feelings, dreams and aspirations and them including me in their plans of becoming sexually active, seeking my advice over others and maybe being the open mom that their friends could come to as well.

I'm reposting a review that first appeared with slight modification in Bay Windows (July 12, 2007). I've been away on the R Family cruise (aka "Rosie's Cruise") for a week and not up to any new content right now. More on the cruise later—the short version is that it was a great experience not only for LGBT families, but also other relatives and friends.

Carrie Jones' debut young adult novel, Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, may at first seem an odd choice for review in an LGBT newspaper. It is not a story about having LGBT parents, nor about being LGBT per se. The protagonist is straight high school student Belle, whose long-term boyfriend Dylan has just come out. Tips explores the broader ramifications of homophobia and closetedness without resorting to stereotypes, however, and if it finds its way into the hands of more teens, LGBT and not, that will be a good thing for all families.

Where I went to high school, not a lot of kids went on to college. Getting accepted into a Cal State was great; if you got into a UC, you were golden! Admission into a private university was cause for celebration. I remember thinking that expectations should be higher.

Today, the college admissions process has become insanely competitive, especially at elite high schools. Now we read stories about scholar-athletes with 4.4 GPAs (and volunteer experience that make them look like teenage Mother Theresas) getting rejected by a slew of Ivy League schools. Some kids are cracking under the pressure.

Witness 18-year-old Azia Kim. The Orange County girl graduated from Troy High School in 2006, which was named #21 in Newsweek's recent list of the country's best high schools.

Azia wanted to go to Stanford, but was apparently rejected. So she showed up on campus anyway and posed as a student:

The 18-year-old kept a low profile and was able to pull off the elaborate deception for almost an entire school year, slipping into her dorm room through an open window, relaxing in the dorm lounge and talking about tests she apparently never would take, students said.

"I had no idea," said freshman Jessica Wacker, 18, who lived in the same dormitory. "Everybody was so surprised. It's so strange that everybody in the dorm could have not know about somebody staying here. She just blended in, so you really couldn't tell."

Like most readers, my initial reaction was: WHY would she perpetuate such a charade?

Several students suggested it was because of intense pressure to gain admittance to one of the country's most elite universities.

"She was perpetuating a lie that she had been attending the university," Wacker said. "I think she had told her parents, and she perpetuated the lie so far that she actually had to come to the campus to stay here."

Freshman Alissa Haber, 19, whose softball teammate shared a room with Kim for the fall and winter quarters, said she sympathized with the impostor.

"When I was going through the application process, I was pretty nervous, too," Haber said. "I mean, not to the point where if I didn't get in I would have faked it, but I can understand that there's a lot of pressure from outside forces to get into a school like this."

Azia apparently blogged about her college experience, ruminating on finals and looking forward to summer.

Many parents are understandably upset that a young woman breached campus security so brazenly, and the Santa Clara District Attorney is considering whether or not to press charges.

My reaction is overwhelming sympathy. This girl clearly nurtured this dream for so long that she couldn't bear to let it go, or to disappoint those around her. My heart breaks when I think of how desperate and lost she must have felt roaming the campus, nursing this terrible, shameful secret, wanting so badly to belong there.

Azia's pastor was stunned by the revelation:

"What I know is she got accepted at Stanford and went to Stanford," said Bert Yun, adding that he was completely unaware she wasn't a student there. "I've never heard these stories."

He said Kim was a motivated and diligent teenager, and any deception would be "out of character."

"Why would she do that?" he asked. "She's a very good person."

Yun last heard from Kim by e-mail about five or six months ago.

"When I heard from her," he recalled, "she said she was having a great time at Stanford."

I hope she gets the counseling she so clearly needs, and I hope that parents and educators everywhere reevaluate this crushing pressure we place on young people. It's too much, too soon.