North Jersey parents vow to ban alcohol at home parties
SEPTEMBER 28, 2014 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
Schools around North Jersey are wielding a new weapon in the fight against teen drug and alcohol use: the parents’ pledge.
Dubbed the Safe Homes Pledge, it’s part of a nationwide movement that asks parents to sign an agreement committing themselves to providing adult supervision for parties in their homes, securing prescription medication, and not serving alcohol to any guest under the age of 21.
Among the North Jersey towns and school districts where parents have participated are Ramsey, Ridgewood, Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District, Northern Highlands Regional High School, Pascack Hills, Ringwood, Wayne and Wanaque. The names of parents who have signed the agreement are then listed in a local directory.
Now, parents in the Northern Valley Regional School District are being asked to take the pledge.
The initiative is the latest step in a wide-ranging campaign by the Northern Valley community to fight alcohol and drug use.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/crime-and-courts/a-move-to-curb-teenage-drinking-1.1097827#sthash.e8vSCNAT.dpuf
I hate this puritanical bullshit.
What do you think is going to happen when these kids go to college? Are you going to ask the greek houses to sign these pledges too? What about the cities of Fort Walton Beach, Daytona, South Padre, Ft Lauderdale, Cancun etc?
When you read about your kids dying of alcohol poisoning because they never learned how to drink responsibly, think back to this little pledge.
Supervision is very easily defeated. Kids are way smarter in the art of distraction and concealment. Err, by the way folks, kids lie throught their teeth. Yes, your little straight A darlings. Lovely kids, but they lie. A lot.
If parents really want to combat teen drinking, then the biggest way to do it is to not have alcohol in the house at all. This is where kids get almost all of it from. I’m not suggesting that we de-booze our homes, but just pointing out where they get their booze from.
Parents are hypocrites, when it comes to high school graduation parties it is the parents who are buying and providing the booze.
I agree with the police chief quoted in the article who points out this is a pledge to agree to follow the law. It is not like this is a parental choice to serve booze to your kids’ friends. This is an illegal act which can have severe repercussions if something goes wrong.
I generally agree with #1 on the issue as a whole. But would add Budweiser as another entity that might make such a pledge not to encourage drinking in our youth.
What did the parents do when they were in HS? Drink milk?
This ‘politically correct’ nonsense is pure bullshit.
Kids are going to drink. Would you rather them drive around and crash as we used to in the 70’s?
Budweiser is like big tobacco. They know that they target kids but they pretend otherwise.
I also agree that this is a stunt. Kids go to high school sponsored alcohol free dances drunk. They have learned to drink bodka because it is a faster buzz, less drinking and easier to conceal.
Parents do not need to buy alcohol. Kids have access to 30 packs
#5 the reason there is less driving around drunk than in the 70’s is because of the DWI laws being more severe and more strictly enforced, not because there are more house parties. Yes, kids are going to drink, but parents should not supply it to other peoples underage children, only to their own if they see fit to.
#1 are you saying unsupervised and/or underage drinking at house parties is how children learn to drink responsibly?
#1 your ignorance is beyond description. Its a matter of maturity, communication and that child’s individual ability to make decisions. I do hope your permissive recommendation refers to perhaps 18 year olds and hs seniors, rather than the middle schoolers I have already witnessed going down this path to “being better prepared for college drinking”. It’s a totally unsupported myth, but maybe there is a poster out there who can respond with information regarding 2 common but opposite views – whether early drinking helps prepare for the college social environment or whether it becomes a gateway to substance abuse.
So do i only have to follow the laws to which I have signed a pledge to follow ?
Smoking pot is less dangerous. Kids will not need to have their stomachs pumped. Pot smokers are less agressive than drunks.
Unfortunately it is illegal for all.
I signed it.
I’ll do anything to get out of actually parenting my children.
Pot is a ‘gateway’ drug. (despite the current push to legalize)
Without exception, every drug addict started by smoking pot.