Do You Speak Teen?

(EMAILWIRE.COM, September 26, 2007 ) Point Roberts, WA -- Tucked into a recent copy of USA Today was an eye-catching insert, not the usual waste of paper you barely glance at and throw away. This was an oversized cutout of a cell phone and the most intriguing feature was the alphabet soup gibberish featured in the phone's screen that read: mnE Ps dnt bleev der is a gNR8N d/c b/t em n thr teen, with the powerful question , "Do You Speak Teen?" For many parents the answer is clearly, "No".The insert is part of The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's (ONDCP) National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, Parent Chronicles. It's their latest collaborative program aimed at helping parents better understand their kids communication habits in our pervasive high tech environment, and preventing risky behavior by their kids. The campaign highlights the reality that there is a generational information gap that is widening because parents and kids are poles apart when it comes to the use and abuse of technology. Kids find cell phones, text messaging, and the Internet exciting and empowering, especially because it's a benign way of excluding parents as teens strive for independence. Some parents believe they have a good handle on their kids' technology behavior, but many others have no idea, with little or no skills to understand it.To paraphrase Scott Burns, the Deputy Director of the ONDCP, "If parents think because they know how to use the Internet, they understand their teen's experience on line, or because they talk on a cell phone, they understand how teens use these devices to communicate with each other, they are sadly mistaken". A graphic illustration of this point is a video showing parents who reported having a close relationship with their teens showing surprise and alarm at the revelations their teens made. See the full video at: http://www.TheAntiDrug.com/ParentChroniclesSheena Berg a parenting coach at www.blended-familes.com said, "Cell phones and the Internet have been invaluable, efficient, and effective tools for blended families dealing with the complexities of co-parenting. Organizing schedules, tracking, and generally staying in touch have been simplified enormously. But many co-parents view technology with a mix of relief, irritation and worry; relief that they can contact their kids easily, and irritation and worry that kids are using the phone and computer for activities that parents are excluded from. This ONDCP initiative isn't about parents learning teen lingo and technology in order to snoop or spy. It's a call to action to encourage parents to communicate with their teens, to be curious about their friends, their activities, their goals, and ambitions. Knowing about your teen's world helps parents feel more connected, and research shows that parental interest and monitoring are highly influential in reducing risky behavior. We encourage everyone to read this flier". USA Today and its Parent Chronicles partner, AT&T are planning to run the ad insert again on October 4th, and AT&T will reinforce the anti drug message with inserts in millions of wireless customer bills, e-messages, and e-newsletters. The flier includes the translation of the alphabet soup in the phone screen, (which will surprise you) as well as other useful information about how to connect with teens and continue to be the biggest influence in their decisions about risky behavior. This flier is a keeper. Media Contact: Emily Bouchard, MSSW Blended-Families.com, LLC 360-991-9558

Blended-Families.com, LLC
Emily Bouchard

emily@blended-families.com