Moms Talk: Keeping Teens Safe from Drunk Drivers

Moms Talk is a weekly feature on Acworth Patch that is part of our initiative to reach out to moms and families. Acworth Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families right here in Acworth.

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council will take your questions, give advice and share solutions. Moms, dads, grandparents and the diverse families who make up our community will have a new resource for questions about local schools, pedestrian safety, nutrition, work-life balance and the thousands of other issues that arise while raising children.  

Moms Talk will also be the place to drop in for a talk about the latest parenting hot topic. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation today.

Here's our discussion topic this week:

What can parents do to keep their teens safe from drunk drivers? What do you tell your child to do if the driver he/she is out with has been drinking? Do you have a contract with your teen children to provide them rides if they need them, no questions asked?

Please take a moment to weigh in on this debate in the comments below.

Acworth moms and Patch Moms Council members Cindy Butson and Tiffany Hughes share their views on the topic:

"My teen knows he can call me no matter what and he can preface anything he wants to talk about with "this may upset you" and I will keep my "cool" because I know he's being honest and not hiding anything from me.

I saw an episode of 20/20 (I believe) where teens were at an audition on hidden camera and a teen actor was put in the situation acting drunk and said he'd drive them back to the hotel. All the parents watching had taught their teen to get out of that type of situation and were shocked that their teen, knowing the driver was intoxicated, got into the vehicle anyway. I think we have to be vigilant in talking about these issues with our teens and giving them different scenarios to be prepared for anything."

"Every parent would like to think that they have given their children all the skills and knowledge they need to prepare them for every bad situation they may encounter. But unfortunately, all parents can do is prepare their kids to the best of their abilities. That being said, our child knows that it is NOT ok to get in a car with a driver who is drunk or under the influence, no matter what he is told by his friends.

I love the story of the car being sold by the "World's Meanest Mom" because she found beer cans in her son's car and immediately ran an ad and sold it to the first buyer to come along rather than asking questions regarding where the cans came from in the first place. It is more important for our son to get home safely than it is for him to be thought of as "cool" and either drive or be driven by someone under the influence."