The Trimbos Institute and STIVORO, the Dutch expert centre for tobacco control, have started a campaign to encourage parents to reduce their children’s vulnerability to the temptations posed by drugs, alcohol and smoking.
As the summer holidays and the parties and events that come with it are drawing closer, children are more exposed to the temptation to take up smoking, drinking or the use of marijuana. 61% of Dutch parents say their children are definitely not allowed to drink alcohol. However, just 35% of young people (12 to 16 years old) indicate that their parents actually apply such rules. Precisely the parents are the ones who can influence their children to prevent them from smoking, drinking and using marijuana. This is why the institute and STIVORO are now launching a joint campaign: ‘Hoe help ik mijn kind nee zeggen tegen roken, drinken en blowen?’, in English: ‘How can I help my child to say no to smoking, alcohol and marijuana?’
Lay out clear rules
Statistics show that many children between 12 and 14 years of age start smoking and drinking. By the time they are 15, 31% regularly lights up a cigarette, 60% drinks alcohol regularly and 10% of young people smoke marijuana. “As a parent, there are things you can do about this. Talk to your kids about using such substances before it experiments with them. Then lay out clear rules and apply them, and help your child to say ‘no’ this way”, says René van der Most, head of the Child Raising and Education programme at the Netherlands Institute for Mental Health and Addiction.
Difference in experience
Many parents experience conversation about smoking, drinking, smoking marijuana, in a different way than the children themselves. So 61% of Dutch parents say their children are definitely not allowed to drink alcohol, but only 35% of young people (12 to 16 years old) indicate that their parents actually apply such rules. Where smoking is concerned, there is also a ‘gap’. 77% of parents do not allow their children to smoke, but 65% of children (14 years old) say their parent apply that rule. “Especially with the ‘tempting’ summer holidays just around the corner, it is important to have conversations with children and lay down rules in a timely and open way. This way, children know what the deal is”, says Lies van Gennip, director of STIVORO.
Campaign focuses on ‘vulnerable moments’
The summer holidays were chosen specifically as the moment to start the campaign because this is a so-called vulnerable or risk moment: at these moments the chances of a child taking up smoking, drinking or smoking marijuana are greater. With this in mind the campaign also focuses on other ‘vulnerable moments’, such as the transition to secondary school and the festive season.
The campaign website
www.hoepakjijdataan.nl (‘How are you dealing with this?’, in Dutch only) offers concrete tips and information about smoking, drinking, marijuana and raising children. Parents can also read about other parents’ experiences and watch a short video showing a conversation between parent and child about resisting temptations.
More information:
Marjan Heuving
